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ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT. 


ATLMTIC  &  PACIFIC  EAILWY. 


PORTLAND  &  RUTLANB  EilLEOAD 


OFFICIAL  EECORD  OF  THE  COKPORATOKS, 


'^ 


^FRIL     30,    1868. 


PORTLAND: 

i3rio"vt^3sr    TinjR,sTO]sr    &    co:Mi»A.]NrY 

1868. 


ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 


ATLIJITIC  AND  PACIFIC  RAILWAY. 


POETLAND  &  EUTLAND  EAILEOAD  COMPANY. 

OFFICIAL  REPORT  OF  THE  DOINGS  OF  THE  CORPORATORS, 

In  pursuance  of  notice,  signed  by  seven  at  least  of  the  Cor- 
porators, named  in  the  act  of  incorporation  ;  which  notice  was 
published  at  least  fourteen  days  before  the  time  mentioned  in 
said  notice,  in  the  Eastern  Argus,  a  newspaper  published  in 
the  City  of  Portland,  and  County  of  Cumberland,  and  in  the 
Maine  Democrat,  a  newspaper  published  in  the  City  of  Bid- 
deford,  in  the  County  of  York,  and  in  other  newspapers  in 
said  County  of  Cumberland,  in  the  words  and  figures  follow- 
ing, viz : 

PORTLAND  AND  RUTLAND  RAILROAD   COMPANY. 

The  undersigned,  more  than  seven  of  the  persons  named  in  the  first 
section  of  "An  act  to  incorporate  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad 
Company,"  approved  March  6th,  1868,  hereby  give  notice,  that  the  first 
meeting  of  the  corporators  named  in  said  act,  will  be  held  at  the  rooms 
of  the  Portland  Board  of  Trade,  Thomas  Block,  Exchange  street,  in  the 
City  of  Portland,  on  Wednesday,  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  April,  A.D. 
1868,  at  three  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon,  to  agree  on  the  terms  of 
subscription,  the  times  and  places  for  receiving  subscriptions  to  the 


capital  stock,  the  admission  of  associates,  and  all  measures  necessary 
to  the  organization  of  said  corporation. 

Dated  at  Portland,  this  ninth  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1868. 

Jacob  McLellan,  John  A.  Poor. 

John  Lynch,  J.  B.  Carroll, 

T.  C.  Hersey,  William  Deering, 

H.  J.  LiBBY,  N.  C.  Rice, 

N.  J.  Miller,  Allen  Haines, 

Geo.  W.  Woodman,  Frederick  Robie, 

Aug.  E.  Stevens,  John  M.  Adams, 

A.  K.  Shurtleff,  Samuel  J.  Anderson, 

Frederick  G.  Messer.  J.  L.  Farmer, 

R.  M.  Richardson,  Enoch  Knight. 

The  Corporators  named  in  an  an  act  entitled  "  an  act  to 
incorporate  the  Portland  ai^l  Rutland  Railroad  Company," 
approved  March  6th,  1808,  met  at  the  rooms  of  the  Portland 
Board  of  Trade,  Thomas  Block,  Exchange  street,  in  the  city 
of  Portland,  on  Wednesday,  the  29th  day  6f  April,  A.  D. 
1868,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  John  A.  Poor,  Esq., 
and  Allen  Haines,  Esq.,  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  corpora- 
tors, who  was  duly  sworn. 

Voted,  To  adjourn  to  meet  at  the  reception  room,  in  the  Nbw  City 
Hall  building,  at  3  1-4  o'clock  this  afternoon,  notice  of  which  adjourn- 
ment was  duly  pM>sted  on  the  door  of  the  office,  or  public  room  of  the 
Portland  Board  of  Trade. 

Attest:  Allen  Haines, 

Clerk  of  the  Corporators. 

At  3  1-4  o'clock  P.  M.,  the  Corporators  met  at  the  recep- 
tion room  in  the  New  City  Hall,  in  the  City  of  Portland, 
according  to  the  adjournment.  The  meeting  was  called  to 
order  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Corporators,  who  read  the  record 
of  the  meeting  and  the  call. 

Hon.  Frederick  Robie  was  appointed  Chairman. 

The  meeting  was  addressed  by  John  A.  Poor,  Esq.,  on 
whose  motion  it  was  voted  that  the  Corporators  resolve  them- 


selves  into  a  convention,  and  that  all  preseij^t  be  invited  to 
participate  in. their  deliberations."    Mr.  Poor  said, 

It  is  now  more  than  twenty-three  years,  or  in  September, 
1844,  that  Portland  entered  upon  her  career  as  a  commercial 
city,  and  embarked  in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  to  Mon- 
treal. • 

In  1845,  with  a  population  of  15,000,  a  valuation  for  State 
taxation  of  84,061,303,  and  a  valuation  for  City  taxation  of 
$4,634,738,  the  city  of  Portland  subscribed  $715,600  to  the 
stock  of  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Railroad,  and  secured 
from  other  towns,  principally  upon  its  route,  additional  sub- 
scriptions, making  a  total  of  over  one  million  of  dollars. 
"^  Westbrook,  including  the  subscription  of  James  Deering, 
Esq.,  took  $43,600 ;  North  Yarmouth,  $31,700 ;  Norway, 
$22,100 ;  Paris,  $19,400 ;  and  lesser  sums  were  received 
from  many  of  the  towns  in  the  State. 

The  result  of  this  railway  mpvement  was  a  rapid  develop- 
ment of  business.  In  1850,  Portland  had  a  population  of 
20,819,  a  valuation  for  State  taxation  of  $7,311,561,  and  a 
valuation  for  city  taxation  of  $13,364,009.  The  increase  of 
business  from  1850  to  the  present  time,  though  not  so  rapid 
as  during  the  first  five  years,  has  placed  Portland  in  a  promi- 
nent position  among  the  commercial  cities  of  the  country. 
The  imports  into  Portland  have  increased  from  $454,226  in 
1846,  to  $14,500,318  in  1866.  And  the  exports  from  $595,- 
925,  in  1846,  to  $5,719,863,  in  1866,  which  increase  is  main- 
ly due  to  the  construction  of  the  railway  to  Montreal. 

The  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Railroad  expanded  into  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway  of  Canada,  forming  at  this  time,  in  all 
its  connections  and  extensions,  1377  miles  of  railroad  under 
one  management,  cost  something  over  $80,000,000.  In  our 
own  State,  the  mileage  of  railroads  has  increased  from  70 
miles  in  1845,  costing  less  than  $2,000,000,  to  over  500  miles 
of  railroads  in  operation,  cost  over  $18,000,000,  in  1866. 
And  if  to  this  aggregate,  are  added  the  cost  of  the  71  miles 


6 


of  the  Atlantic  jnd  St.  Lawrence  Railroad,  lying  52  miles  in 
New  Hainpsliire  and  19  miles  in  Vermont,  it  -VAjill  make  the 
aggregate  mileage  of  railroads  in  operation,  properly  belong- 
ing to  our  State,  of  573  miles  in  length,  costing  over  $20,- 
000,000. 

Our  State  bas  recovered  from  the  revulsion  which  followed 
this  heavy  draft  upon  our  business  capital  for  the  building  of 
these  railroads,  and  all  parts  of  the  State  are  now  moving  to 
construct  new  lines  of  railroads. 

The  new  enterprises  now  in  progress  in  Maine  embrace  an 
aggregate  of  about  300  miles,  already  undertaken  or  to  be 
put  in  progress  the  present  year,  in  which  are  included  some 
of  the  more  important  lines  in  our  railroad  system,  in  thef- 
success  of  which  Portland  is  largely,  though  indirectly  inter- 
ested, though  she  is  not  likely  to  be  called  upon  to  contribute 
largely  of  her  capital  to  insure  their  construction. 

The  Somerset  Railroad  is  to  be  extended  into  Somer- 
set County,  as  far  up  as  Carritunk  Falls,  31  miles;  the 
Dexter  and  Newport  road  will  be  opened  in  July  next,  15 
miles ;  the  Belfast  and  Moosehead  railroad  will  extend  from 
the  line  of  the  Maine  Central  to  Belfast,  34  miles;  all  form- 
ing a  part  of  our  broad  guage  system.  Bangor  has  pledged 
her  credit  for  $1,000,000  to  the  E.  &  N.  A.  Railway,  and 
$600,000  more  to  the  Piscataquis  branch  of  it  from  Oldtown 
to  Dover,  reaching  the  valuable  Slate  Quarries  in  the  Piscata- 
quis valley,  some  of  which  are  already  open  at  Brownville, 
which  will  give  a  new  business  to  Bangcy,  more  than  supply- 
ing any  diminution  of  her  lumber  trade. 
r  The  extension  of  the  line  of  the  E.  &  N.  A.  Railway,  110 
miles  in  Maine,  to  the  boundary  of  New  Brunswick,  and  86 
.miles  in  New  Brunswick,  to  the  city  of  St.  John,  is  now  re- 
garded as  secured. 

There  is  also  the  Knox  and  Lincoln  road,  from  Bath  to 
Rockland,  a  distance  of  45  miles,  secured  by  subscriptions 
upon  its  route.     Portland  is  interested  socially  and  commer- 


ically  in  the  success  of  all  these  lines,  for  her  growth  depends 
mainly  on  the  business  of  our  own  State. 

Regarding  the  railroad  policy  of  the  State  as  now  settled, 
and  the  most  important  line  of  all  to  Portland,  the  E.  &  N.  A. 
Railway  secured,  extending  to  St.  John  and  Halifax,  Portland 
may  now  confidently  rely  upon  an  increase  of  the  Grand 
Trunk  business  from  Montreal  and  the  West,  for  the  future, 
which  threatened  at  one  time  to  pass  b^*  Portland,  go  to 
the  River  de  Loup,  and  thence  to  St.  John  city  over  the  In- 
tercolonial railway.  This  must  have  followed,  had  Portland 
been  without  any  connection  by  railway  from  Bangor  to  St. 
John.  I  regard  therefore  the  completion  of  the  E.  &  N.  A. 
Railway  as  of  far  more  consequence  to  Portland  than  to  any 
other  city  of  the  country,  not  even  excepting  Bangor  and 
St.  John. 

Portland  is  now  at  liberty  for  the  first  time  to  turn  her 
thoughts  and  her  strength  towards  the  West.  She  is  on  the 
direct  route  of  the  great  railway  that  is  to  span  the  continent 
at  its  widest  part,  the  completion  of  which  will  make  Portland 
a  competitor  with  New  York  for  western  trade. 

All  the  predictions  put  forth  twenty  years  ago,  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  railroad  from  Portland  to  Montreal,  upon  Bos- 
ton, are  already  realized,  and  the  city  of  Boston  is  attempting 
to  recover  from  the  errors  of  her  narrow  policy. 

"  The  decadence  of  Boston^^^  fiow  the  topic  of  discussion, 
reiterated  before  legislative  committees,  and  frankly  admitted 
in  the  North  American  Review,  arises  from  two  causes  ;  one, 
the  result  of  the  geographical  position,  and  the  other,  of  her 
railroad  policy,  to  which  I  can  only  refer  for  want  of  time. 
It  i^  interesting  to  read  in  the  North  American  Review  a 
repetition  of  the  arguments  put  forth  more  than  twenty  years 
ago,  and  on  which  the  Portland  and  Montreal  Railroad  was 
worked  out.  The  ingenious  attempt  to  make  these  argu- 
ments apply  to  Bo'ston  in  her  present  condition,  and  the  con- 
currence   of  opinion  on  the   part  of  Mr.   Charles   Francis 


8 


Adams,  jr.,  in  the  North  American  Review,  and  of  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Crane,  the  champion  of  the  Marginal  Street  Railway^ 
in  favor  of  a  line  to  Ogdensburg  from  Boston,  can  only  ex- 
cite a  smile.  . 

Mr.  Adams  divides  the  United  States  into  three  business  zones: 
the  southern  or  G-ulf  zone  ;  the  Central  zone,  whose  business 
concentrates  at  New  York ;  the  Lake  zone,  which  he  claims 
will  naturally  concentrate  its  business  at  Boston,  frankly  ad- 
mitting, that  all  attempts  to  gain  export  trade  from  the  Gulf 
zone,  or  Central  zone,  are  futile.  Mr.  Adams'  plan,  like  that  of 
Mr.  Crane,  is  to  abandon  all  attempts  to  hft  business  from  the 
valley  of  the  Hudson  into  the  Boston  harbor  agaitist  the  power- 
ful attraction  which  causes  all  the  business  of  heavy  transpor- 
tation in  the  Hudson  valley  to  gravitate  to  New  York  City. 
Like  a  sensible  man,  he  regards  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  as  a  ne- 
cessary failure,  and  all  attenjpts  to  gain  business  by  extending 
a  line  of  railway  from  its  western  mouth  to  Lake  Ontario,  as 
an  eqtAil  absurdity, — because  he  brings  the  business  to  Troy, 
from  the  West, — which  is  a  necessary  appurtenance  or  out- 
lying wharf  of  New  York  City,  to  which  freight  descends  at 
so  trifling  a  cost  of  transportation,  as  to  preclude  the  possibil- 
ity of  lifting  it  over,  or  through,  the  Berkshire  mountains, 
with  a  summit  of  1480  feet,  and  greater  distance  to  tide  water, 
with  a  summit  of  918  feet  between  the  Connecticut  river  and 
Boston.  Hence  Mr.  Adams  ^gards  Rutland  as  the  safe  point 
to  which  to  bring  western  produce,  as,  from  Rutland,  it  can 
reach  Boston  cheaper  than  to  go  to  New  York.  He  makes 
no  allusion  to  the  recently  proposed  canal  from  Whitehall  to 
Rutland,  bringing  the  navigable  waters  of  Lake  Champlain  24 
miles  nearer  to  Boston,  an  enterprise  which,  if  sure  of  suc6ess, 
will  accelerate  the  movement  for  a  ship  canal  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  into  Lake  Champlain. 

Rutland  is  the  point,  which,  from  its  geographical  position 
and  railroad  facilities,  the  writer  in  the  North  American  Re- 
view, looks  upon  as  the  outlying  port  of  Boston,  as  Pittsburg 


9 


is  commercially  related  to  Philadelpliia,  Buffalo  to  New  York 
City,  and  Montreal  to  the  City  of  Portland.  But  in  order  to 
make  Rutland  occupy  successfully  this  position,  this  writer 
regards  the  building  of  additional  lines  to  Ogdensburg  through 
the  Adirondac  Mountains,  and  increased  facilities  over  exist- 
ing lines  around  the  foot  of  Lake  Champlain  by  the  way  of 
Rouse's  Point,  as  indispensible. 

Boston  has  been  forced  .to  this  position  by  the  complete 
failure  of  all  her  previous  plans  for  securing  a  western  export 
trade,  and  the  certainty  of  a  similar  failure  on  the  completion 
of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel.  Not  that  that  Tunnel  will  be  entirely 
worthless,  for  along  the  route,  from  the  Hudson  through  to 
Fitchburg,  business  will  spring  up  as  it  has  along  the  line  of  the 
Boston  and  Albany  Railroad,  and  the  $10,000,000  which  the 
Tunnel  has  been  estimated  to  cost,  will  be  more  than  made 
up,  by  the  necessary  development  of  business  along^  the  north- 
ern tier  of  towns  from  the  Hoosac  Mountains  to  Fitchburg. 
This  influence  alone,  has  kept  the  project  alive,  and  seems 
likely  to  carry  it  through.  But  the  idea  on  which  the  Hoo- 
sac Tunnel  was  started  has  been  already  abandoned.  Mr. 
Adams  and  Mr.  Crane  still  cherish  the  idea  of  making  Ogdens- 
burg a  point,  from  which  to  direct  trade  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  her  harbor. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  line  from  Ogdensburg 
to  Boston  was  started  simultaneously,  or  nearly  so,  with  the 
Portland  and  Montreal  railroad  for  the  purpose  of  heading 
off  that.  Efforts  were  made  to  detach  Montreal  from  the 
Portland  connection,  but  without  success,  by  Boston  parties, 
and  in  1847,  when  the  Portland  delegation  were  in  Montreal, 
in  reference  to  the  question  of  guage,  Boston  men  proposed 
that  Portland  should  abandon  the  Montreal  connection,  turn 
west  from  Island  Pond  to  Ogdensburg,  instead  of  Montreal ; 
being  assured  that  the  line  from  Boston  to  Ogdensburg 
would  take  off  the  business  of  the  St.  Lawrence  river ;  and 
thereafter,  or  when  the  railroad  was  finished  from  Boston  to 


10 


Ogdensburg,  western  produce  for  export  ^vould  stop  at  Og- 
densburg  and  not  go  to  Montreal.  Under  this  delusive  feel- 
ing this  line  was  finished  with  Boston  capital.  In  1851,  im- 
mense docks  and  warehouses  were  erected  at  Ogdensburg,  and 
lines  of  propellers  established,  but  of  no  avail.  The  scheme 
proved  a  failure.  The  attraction  of  a  great  city,  aided  by 
railroaxis  and  canals,  continued  to  draw  to  Montreal  the  bulk 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  trade,  having  from  there,  a  choice  of 
routes  to  Europe. 

If  there  was  any  sense  in  the  proposition  that  the  St.  Law- 
ence  trade  could  be  turned  off  at  Ogdensburg,  Portland 
should  have  extended  her  line  from  Island  Pond  to  Ogdens- 
burg, via  Missisqoui  Valley,  securing  to  herself  by  the  most 
practicable  route,  this  trade.  But  the  proposition  was  un- 
sound, for  merchandise  afloat  upon  the  St.  Lawrence  Riv- 
er, would  naturally  flow  down  to  Montreal,  the  necessary 
depot  of  the  business  of  the  Upper  Lakes,  the  point  where 
the  canal  boat  and  the  seagoing  vessel  meet  and  exchange 
cargoes.  At  Montreal,  the  Victoria  Bridge  connects  the  city 
with  the  open  sea  at  Portland,  which  only  requires  the  com- 
pletion of  the  cut-off"  from  Island  Pond  to  Montreal,  short- 
•ening  the  distance  46  miles  over  the  present  route,  to  secure 
the  cheapest  possible  outlet  by  rail  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  open  sea. 

These  matters  will  soon  come  to  pass,  and  if  Montreal  and 
Canada  West  were  a  part  of  the  United  States,  Montreal 
would  become  the  principal  competitor  of  New  York,  in  the  im- 
portation of  European  goods.  She  is  open  to  ocean  steamers, 
twenty-eight  weeks  in  the  year,  and  to  the  open  sea  at  Port- 
land all  the  year  round  by  railway ;  and  if  she  could  send 
her  goods  to  the  far  West,  relieved  of  the  restrictions  upon 
trade,  she  could  secure  the  bulk  of  the  trade  of  Chicago  and 
the  country  west  of  it,  on  that  parallel  of  latitude. 

This  consummation  would  add  largely  to  the  commerce  of 
Portland,  for  Portland  would  then  be  to  Montreal,  what 
Havre  is,  commercially  to  the  city  of  Paris. 


11 


We  all  know  that  western  produce,  instead  of  stopping  at 
Ogdensburg,  and  going  thence  to  Boston  by  rail,  passes  by 
Ogdensburg,  goes  to  Montreal,  thence  by  the  Grrand  Trunk 
to  Portland,  and  by  rail  or  steamer  to  Boston.  In  1863, 
271,530  barrels  of  flour  came  by  this  route  to  Boston,  entered 
as  comino;  from  Portland. 

The  only  question,  therefore,  that  concerns  Portland,  as 
far  as  competition  with  Boston  for  western  trade  is  concerned, 
is,  can  Boston  draw  produce  from  Montreal  to  Boston,  cheaper 
than  it  can  be  transported  from  Montreal  to  Portland. 
Straighten  the  lines  from  Montreal  to  Portland  and  to  Boston 
to  their  shortest  measure,  and  reduce  their  grades  to  the  lowest 
practicable  point  on  each,  and  Portland  will  always  have  full 
twenty-five  per  cent  advantage  in  the  struggle.  This  is  the 
theory  upon  which  the  Montreal  and  Portland  road  was  built, 
using  between  Montreal  and  the  West,  water  communication 
as  well  as  rail.  Boston  will  yet  come  to  perqeive  this.  The 
community  at  large  wilj  accept  as  true  what  the  importers  of 
breadstufFs  into  Boston  have  realized  from  the  start  —  that 
between  Oswego  and  Montreal,  there  is  no  point  where  you 
can  turn  off,  or  successfully  divert  trade  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence basin.  Commercial  gravitation  carries  it  past  Cape 
Vincent  and  all  the  intermediate  ports  till  it  reaches  its  nat- 
ural resting  place,  MONTREAL. 

The  question  then  arises,  what  can  Portland  do  to  enlarge 
her  trade  ?  The  cheapest  mode  would  be  to  shorten  and 
improve  the  line,  and  increase  the  equipment  of  the  Grand 
Trunk  R.  R.  to  Montreal,  so  that  by  the  means  of  a  double 
track,  that  line  could  do  five  times  its  present  business,  and 
employ  steamers  and  sailing  vessels  in  the  exportation  of 
Western  produce  through  the  year.  But  this  policy  can 
hardly  be  expected  under  the  present  state  of  things.  The 
Grand  Trunk  must  work  out  her  own  destiny  under  its  pres- 
ent management,  and  Portland  must  enter  a  new  field  for  do- 
mestic trade. 


12 


To  secure  an  increase  of  Western  trade,  inde|)endent  of 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  two  routes  have  been  proposed 
for  the  consfderation  of  the  people  of  Portland.  One,  known 
as  the  Northern  route,  proposes  to  run  by  the  way  of  the 
White  Mountain  Notch,  the  summit  of  which  is  1904  feet 
above  tide  water  at  Portland,  in  a  distance  of  some  86  miles 
from  the  city,  and  from  thence,  the  line  passes  through  the 
towns  of  Carroll,  Bethlehem,  Whitefield  and  Dalton,  to  the 
Connecticut  River,  over  24  miles,  making  a  total  of  110  miles 
from  Portland  to  the  Connecticut.  From  Dalton  to  St.  Johns- 
bury,  the  distance  is  about  twenty  miles  to  a  point  of  inter- 
section with  the  Passumpsic  Railroad.  From  St.  Johnsbury 
west,  the  line  passes  through  the  town  of  Danville  by  a  very 
circuitous  route,  rising  to  an  elevation  of  1692  feet  above  tide 
water,  through  the  corner  of  Cabot,  and  through  the  town  of 
Hardwick,  thence  in  the  Lamoille  valley  through  Walcott, 
Hyde  Park,  Mqrristown  and  Johnstown,  to  the  town  of  Cam- 
bridge. From  Cambridge  two  routes,  are  proposed,  one  due 
west  through  Fletcher  and  Fairfax  to  the  Vermont  and  Can- 
ada Railroad  in  the  town  of  Georgia;  the  other  nnis  from 
Cambridge  tiirough  Watcrville,  Bakersfield,  Fairfield,  Shel- 
don, Swanton  and  Highgate,  to  a  point  on  the  line  of  the 
Vermont  and  Canada  road.  The  other,  or  Western  line  pro- 
poses to  run  from  Portland  to  the  State  line  of  Parsonsfield, 
through  the  towns  of  Westbrook,  Gorham,  Standish,  Bald- 
win, Limington,  Cornish,  Hiram,  Porter  and  Parsonsfield,  a 
distance  of  36  miles ;  thence  through  the  towns  of  Freedom, 
Effingham,  Ossipee,  Tamworth,  Sandwich,  Moultonboro'  and 
Center  Harbor,  N.  H.,  a  distance  of  27  miles ;  thence  by  the 
way  of  New  Hampton,  Bristol  and  Alexandria,  to  the  line  of 
the  Northern  Railroad  of  New  Hampshire,  at  Danbury,  a  dis- 
tance of  20  miles  from  Center  Harbor,  making  a  total  of  83 
miles  of  new  line  to  be  built,  provided  no  portion  of  the  Port- 
land and  Rochester  road,  or  of  the  Boston,  Concord  and 
Montreal  road  is  made  use  of.     By  building  this  83  miles  of 


13 


new  line,  a  railroad  to  Ogdensburg  is  secured.  Between  Dan- 
bury  and  Bristol,  a  distance  of  eight  miles,  the  means  have 
been  secured  for  building  it,  leaving  75  miles  of  new  line  to 
be  provided  for.  If  we  use  the  line  of  the  Portland  and 
Rochester  Railroad  as  far  as  Gorham,  a  distance  of  nine  miles, 
t  will  reduce  the  number  of  miles  of  new  railroad  to  be  built 
to  about  65  miles. 

From  Danbury  to  White  River  Junction  the  distance  is  31 
miles  ;  from  thence  to  Rouse's  Point  the  distance  is  144  miles. 

At  Fogg's  Station,  near  Center  Harbor,  or  68  miles  from 
Portland,  the  line  would  cross  the  Boston,«Concord  and  Mon- 
treal Railroad,  which  extends  northwardly  to  Wells  River,  a 
distance  of  52  miles,  connecting  there  with  the  Passumpsic 
road  to  St.  Johnsbury,  a  distance  of  21  miles,  making  a  dis- 
tance from  Portland  to  St.  Johnsbury,  by  this  route,  141 
miles,  as  against  133  miles  by  the  way  of  the  Notch. 

It  is  proposed  to  build  from  Wells  River,  a  line  to  Mont- 
pelier,  a  distance  of  38  miles  over  a  very  favorable  route, 
making  a  distance  of  158  miles  from  Portland  to  Montpelier, 
the  capital  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  from  which  a  line  ex- 
tends to  Rouse's  Point,  a  distance  of  82  miles,  making  a  total 
of  240  miles  from  Rouse's  Point  via  Wells  River  and  Mont- 
pelier to  Poi^tland.  A  portion  of  the  people  in  the  Lamoille 
valley  favor  a  line  from  Hard  wick,  on  the  line  of  the  Lamoille 
valley  road,  to  Marshfield,  a  distance  of  13  miles  on  the  line 
of  the  Wells  River  and  Montpelier  Railroad,  which  would 
secute  the  shortest  possible  route  from  Portland  to  Rouse's 
Point.  A  line  from  Georgia  to  Hardwick  will  not  exceed 
probably  40  miles  ;  from  Hardwick  to  Marshfield  l^miles  ; 
from  Marshfield  to  Wells  River  is  19  miles,  making  the  dis- 
tance from  Georgia  to  Portland  192  miles,  from  Georgia  to 
Rouse's  Point  33  miles,  maldng  the  total  distance  from  Port- 
land to  Rouse's  Point  via  Cornish,  Wells  River,  Hardwick 
and  Georgia,  225  miles.  The  shortest  possible  line  between 
Rouse's  Point  and  Portland,  would  be  found  by  running  from 


14 


Rouse's  Point  to  Swanton  Junction,  thence  through  Fairfield 
and  Cambridge  to  Hardwick,  thence  to  Wells  River  by  way 
of  Mansfield,  reducing  the  distance  below  220  miles,  over  a 
favorable  line.  Between  the  Lamoille  and  Passumpsic  River, 
the  lowest  point  on  the  line  as  surveyed  from  St.  Johnsbury 
to  Hardwick,  the  summit,  as  before  stated,  is  1692  feet  above 
tide  water,  or  but  little  lower  than  at  the  Notch. 

By  the  direct  route  from  Portland  to  White  River  Junc- 
tion, there  is  no  elevation  to  overcome  greater  than  600  feet. 
The  line,  as  proposed,  avoiding  the  heavy  grades  between 
Franklin  and  Danliury,  and  the  heavy  grades  over  the  War- 
ren summit  on  the  line  of  the  Boston,  Concord  and  Montreal 
Railroad.  Between  White  River  Junction  and  Rutland,  the 
line  is  in  progress,  so  that  on  the  completion  of  the  line  from 
Portland  to  Danbury,  the  connection  will  be  complete.  The 
railroads  extending  from  Rutland  to  the  West  connect  as  far 
as  Chicago  and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

This  line  will  become  the  most  important  link  in  the  great 
continental  chain,  the  Pacific  Railway,  or  more  properly 
speakmg,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railway/. 

The  continent  of  North  America  at  its  widest  part,  nearly 
on  the  45th  parallel  of  latitude, —  from  Cape  Canso,  Nova 
Scotia,  in  latitude  45  deg.  17  m.,  and  in  longitude  61  deg. 
0  m.,  to  Cape  Lookout,  in  Oregon,  in  latitude  45  deg.  30  m., 
and  in  longitude  124  deg.  —  extends  a  distance  of  63  deg.,  or 
2,773  geographical  miles,  equal  to  3,191  statute  miles.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1870,  or  soon  after  that,  this  distance  will  all  be 
spanned  by  a  line,  or  a  series  of  connected  lines  of  railway, 
from  IJalifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  latitude  44  deg.  37  m.,  longi- 
tude 63  deg.  20  m.,  to  San  Francisco,  situated  in  latitude  37 
deg.  48  m.,  and  in  longitude  11:2  deg.  26  m. —  Portland, 
Maine,  in  latitude  43  deg,  39  m.,  and  in  longitude  70  deg.  15 
m.,  on  the  most  direct  route,  is  the  Atlantic  -port  first  and  most 
easily  reached  by  the  through  trains  from  the  Pacific.  The 
directness  of  the  line  from  Halifax  to  San  Francisco  is  most 


15 


remarkable.  Passing  round  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
the  Hne  runs  only  a  degree  and  one  half  north,  or  as  high  as 
46  deg.  -7  m.,  when  it  turns  southwest  to  St.  Johns,  in  lati- 
tude 45  deg.  1^  m.,  which  is  reached  in  a  distance  of  262 
miles  from  Halifax.  From  St.  John  to  Bangor,  in  latitude 
44  deg.  45  m.,  and  in  longitude  68  deg.  46  min.,  it  runs  nearly 
west  a  distance  of  196  miles ;  thence  to  Portland,  in  latitude 
43  deg.  39  m.,  and  in  longitude  70  deg.  15  m.,  a  distance  of 
138  miles,  a  total  of  596  miles  from  Halifax  to  Portland,  all 
of  which  is  now  built,  or  in  progress. 

From  Portland  a  line  running  due  west,  striking  Center 
Harbor,  White  River  Junction,  Woodstock,  Rutland  and 
Whitehall  at  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  will  enable  the 
traveler  by  the  way  of  Schenectady,  the  Suspension  Bridge, 
and  Detroit,  to  reach  Chicago  m  a  distance  of  1045  miles 
from  Portland,  or  eighty-three  miles  shorter  than  by  any  other 
route  from  Europe. 

From  Portland  to  Chicago,  by  way  of  Boston  and  Albany, 
is  1,128  miles  ;  and  by  way  of  Montreal  and  the  Grand  Trunk 
railway,  1,141  miles.  Portland  is  destined,  therefore,  to  be 
come  the  shipping  port  for  Chicago  in  the  winter  months, 
and  the  most  important  one  to  her  of  all  the  Atlantic  ports, 
throughout  the  year — on  the  completion  of  this  shortest  line. 
From  Chicago  to  Halifax  via  Portland,  is  1,641  miles ;  from 
Chicago  to  Halifax  via  Boston,  is  1,724  miles,  and  via  New 
York,  1,806  miles. 

The  cutting  off  of  the  angle  between  Whitehall  and  Rome 
already  proposed,  will  inure  to  the  benefit  of  the  Portland  and 
Rutland  line,  but  gives  no  advantage  to  the  lines  to  Boston 
and  New  York.  If  fifty  miles  distance  is  saved  between 
Whitehall  and  Rome,  the  distance  from  Portland  to  Chicago, 
will  be  as  before  stated,  reduced  to  below  one  thousand 
miles.  No  line  from  Chicago  to  Boston  can  be  less  than  1,021 
miles,  or  less  than  965  miles  to  New  York. 

From  Chicago  the  distance  to  San  Francisco  by  the  Central, 


16 


or  Union  Pacific  railway,  is  2,338  miles,  which  makes  the 
line  across  the  continent,  from  Hahfax  to  San  Francisco,  3,979 
miles,  as  follows : 


Towns. 

Mlles. 

Total  No 

MiLEB. 

Height 

AB'VE  TEDK 
WATER. 

Halifax  to  Truro,        -        .        -        - 

61 

Truro  to  N.  B.  Line, 

73 

134 

N.  B.  Line  to  Moncton,      -       -        - 

36 

170 

Moncton  to  St.  John,      -        .        - 

92 

262 

feet. 

St.  John  to  Maine  Boundary,    - 

86 

348 

882 

Boundary  to  Bangor,      -        -        - 

110 

•458 

Bangor  to  Portland,    -        -        -        - 

138 

596 

Halifax  to  Portland, 

596 

Portland  to  N.  H.  Line,      - 

36 

290 

N.  H.  Line  to  Boundary  Vt.,  - 

77 

113 

a5i 

White  Kiver  Junction  to  Rutland,    - 

46 

159 

530 

Rutland  to  Schenectady, 

8o 

244 

Schenectady  to  Suspension  Bridge,  - 

287 

631 

565 

Suspension  Bridge  to  Detroit, 

230 

761 

589 

Detroit  to  Chicago,     -        -        -  >      - 

284 

1045 

625 

Portland  to  Chicago, 

1045 

Chicago  to  Mi.  R.  at  Clinton,    - 

138 

Miss.  R.  to  Missouri  River  at  Omaha 

a56 

494 

968 

Omaha  to  Summit  of  Rocky  Moun- 

547 

tain,  Evans'  Pass,    -        -        -        - 

1041 

8842 

Summit  the  Bridger's  Pass,    - 

142 

1183 

7SM 

Bridger's  Pass  to  Salt  Lake,      - 
Salt  Lake  to  San  Francisco,  - 

380 

1563 

4290 

775 

2338 

Chicago  to  San  Francisco, 

2:3:J8 

Portland  to  San  Francisco,    - 

33^3 

Halifax  to  San  Francisco,  -       -       - 

3979 

Of  this  distance  of  3,979  miles  required  to  complete  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  railway,  134  n.iles  lie  within  the  Pro- 
vince of  Nova  Scotia,  sixty-one  miles  of  which  arc  already 
completed,  and  the  remaining  section  is  in  progress;  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  miles  lie  in  the  Province  of  New 
Brunswick,  92  miles  of  which  are  completed  and  the  residue 
in  progress  ;  284  miles  within  the  State  of  Maine,  158  miles 
of  which  are  finished  and  100  miles  of  the  remainder  are  in 
progress  ;  77  miles  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  28  of 
which  are  completed  ;  6Q  miles  in  the  State  of  Vermont,  20 
miles  of  which  are  built  and  the  remainder  in  progress ;  352 
miles  in  the  State  of  New  York,  230  in  Canada  West,  232 
in  Michigan,  52  in  Indiana,  151  in  Illinois,  356  in  Iowa  and 


17 


525  in  Nebraska,  all  in  actual  operation.  The  only  links 
now  required,  where  the  means  are  still  unprovided  for  their 
construction,  are,  from  Portland  to  White  River  Junction,  re- 
quiring some  15  miles  of  new  line.  All  that  is  required  to 
insure  the  completion  of  this  entire  line,  on  the  most  direct 
route  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  the  distance  from 
Gorham  to  Center  Harbor,  a  distance  of  57  miles  only. 

I  have  been  speaking  of  the  Union  Pacific,  or  Central 
railroad,  but  have  made  no  reference  to  the  Nortliern  Pacific 
line.  It  is  contended  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the  North- 
ern route  that  the  distance  from  Chicago  to  Puo-et's  Sound 
will  be  some  800  miles  less  than  to  San  Francisco,  but  it 
would  occupy  too  much  time  to  make  any  comparisons  be- 
tween the  two  routes,  both  of  which  are  of  the  greatest  pos- 
sible interest  to  the  country, — and  the  recent  report  of  Edwin 
F.  Johnson,  Esq.,  the  accomplished  Engineer  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad,  will  do  much  to  relieve  the  doubt  that  here- 
tofore existed  in  regard  to  the  practicability  and  expediency 
of  constructing  both  lines  at  the  same  time.  Mr.  Johnson 
makes  the  idirect  distance  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Pacific 
1427  miles,  and  the  distance  by  railroad  about  20  per  cent, 
greater,  or  about  1700  miles  from  Lake  Superior  to  Portland, 
in  Oregon. 

In  speaking  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  road,  we  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  regarding  it  as  a  local  road,  the  construc- 
tion of  which  would  add  to  the  local  or  home  trade  of  Port- 
land ;  while  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  its  completion  will  give 
to  Portland  the  greatest  possible  advantages  for  a  large  export- 
ing trade  in  western  produce,  and  make  it  to  an  equal  degree 
a  favorite  port  Mr  the  importation  of  foreign  goods  for  the 
West. 

The  claims  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Com- 
pany, were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  citizens  of  Portland, 
by  his  Excellency,  Gov.  Page  of  Vermont,  and  his  distin- 
guished associates,  comprising  a  committee  of  twelve  of  the 


18 


principal  citizens  of  that  State,  on  the  19tli  of  February 
last. 

Although  some  alarm  was  excited  by  parties  representing 
other  interests,  the  plan  met  with  general  fayor.  A  com- 
mittee of  25  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  measure. 
That  committee  appointed  an  executive  committee  of  seven, 
two  of  whom,  John  Jameson,  Esq.,  of  Cornish,  and  N.  C* 
Rice,  Esq.,  of  this  city,  proceeded  to  Augusta  and  secured 
the  necessary  charter. 

The  chairman  of  this  meeting,  fortunately,  was  chairman 
of  the  joint  standing  co\nmittee  on  railways,  and  through  liis 
able  efforts  and  of  N.  A.  Foster,  Esq.,  one  of  the  city  repre- 
sentatives, our  charter  became  a  law  by  the  approval  of  the 
Governor,  on  the  Gth  of  March,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith 
submitted  as  follows  : 

STATE  OF  MAINE. 


IN  THE  YEAR  OF  OUR  LORD  ONE  THOUSAND  EIGHT   HUNDRED 
AND   SIXTY-EIGHT. 


An  Act  to  incorporate  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Bailroad  Company. 


Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  Legislature 

a^embledf  as  follows : 

Section  1.  John  B.  Brown,  John  B.  Carroll,  A.  W.  H.  Clapp,  William 
Deering,  Charles  Fobes,  N.  A.  Foster,  Samuel  J.  Anderson,  John  M. 
Adams.  T.  C.  Hersey,  ^len  Haines,  John  Lynch,  H.  J.  Libby,  Israel 
Washburn,  jr.,  Horatio  N.  Jose,  Jacob  McLellan,  N.  J.  Miller,  F.  G. 
Messer,  Jonas  H.  Perley,  John  A.  Poor,  R.  M.  Richardson,  Nehemiah 
Rice,  Augustus  E.  Stevens,  A.  K.  Shurtleff,  Rufus  E.  Wood,  George  W. 
Woodman,  N.  L.  Woodbury,  Ammi  Boynton,  John  Jameson,  Caleb  R. 
Ayer,  Ezra  Towle,  Elias  H.  Newbegin,  Tobias  LoroT  Frederick  Robie, 
Enoch  Knight,  Freeman  McKenney,  James  L.  Farmer,  William  H.  Fes- 
senden,  Wm.  M.  McArthur,  Freeman  Hatch,  Ebenezer  Blazo,  John 
O'Brien,  their  associates,  successors  and  assigns,  are  hereby  made  and 
constituted  a  body  corporate  and  politic,  by  the  name  of  the  "Portland 
and  Rutland  Railroad  Company,  and  by  this  name  may  sue  and  be  sued, 
plead  and  be  impleaded,  and  shall  have  and  ei\joy  all  proper  remedies 


19 


at  law  and  in  equity  to  secure  andlprotect  them  in  the  exercise  and  use 
of  the  rights  and  privileges,  and  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  here- 
inafter granted  and  enjoined,  and  to  prevent  all  iiyrasions  thereof,  or 
interruptions  in  exercising  and  performing  the  same ;  and  the  said  cor- 
poration is  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  locate,  construct  and 
finally  complete,  alter  and  keep  in  repair,  a  railroad  with  on*e  or  more 
sets  of  rails  or  tracks,  with  all  suitable  bridges,  tunnels,  viaducts,  turn- 
outs, culverfs,  drains,  and  all  other  necessary  appendages,  from  some 
point  upon  the  line  of  any  existing  railroad  in  the  counties  of  York, 
Oxford  and  Cumberland,  or  upon  any  line  that  may  be  hereafter  con- 
structed, under  any  existing  charter,  within  the  counties  of  York,  Ox- 
ford and  Cumberland,  at  some  point  west  of  the  Saco  river  or  north  of 
the  town  of  Standish,  thence  extending  northerly  or  westerly  to  the 
Western  boundary  line  of  the  state  in  the  Valley  of  the  Great  Ossipee 
river,  to  such  place  upon  the  west  line  of  the  state  as  may  be  found  ex- 
pedient for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  connection  with  a  railroad  to  be 
constructed  from  such  place  westerly  or  northwesterly  to  the  east  line 
of  the  state  of  Vermont ;  and  said  corporation  shall  be  and  hereby  are 
invested  with  all  the  powers,  privileges  and  immunities  which  are  or 
may  be  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  the  purposes  and  objects  of  this 
act  as  herein  set  forth,  with  the  right  to  extend  its  line  through  the 
states  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  in  case  authority  therefor  is 
granted  by  said  states  or  either  of  them,  with  the  further  right  to  unite 
with  the  line  of  any  other  railroad  company  in  either  of  said  .states, 
and  to  issue  its  bonds  to  aid  the  construction  of  any  other  connected 
line  in  either  of  said  states,  or  lease  or  purchase  any  connected  line  in 
this  state  or  either  of  said  states,  so  as  best  to  form  a  connected  line 
of  railroad  from  the  city  of  Portland,  Maine,  to  the  town  of  Rutland, 
Vemiont ;  and  for  this  purpose  said  corporation  shall  have  the  right  to 
purchase,«or  to  take  and  hold  so  much  of  the  land  and  the  real  estate 
of  private  persons  and  corporations  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  loca- 
tion, construction  and  convenient  operation  of  said  railroad  and  branch ; 
and  they  shall  also  have  the  right  to  take,  remove  and  use  for  the  con- 
struction and  repair  of  said  railroad  and  appurtenances,  any  earth, 
gravel,  stone,  timber  or  other  materials  on  or  from  the  land  so  taken : 
Provided,  however,  this  said  land  so  taken  shall  not  exceed  six  rods  in 
width,  except  where  greater  width  is  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  ex- 
cavation or  embankment ;  and  provided,  also,  that  in  all  cases,  said 
corporation  shall  pay  for  such  lands,  estate  or  materials  so  taken  and 
used,  such  price  as  they  and  the  owner  or  respective  owners  thereof 
may  mutually  agree  upon ;  and  in  case  said  parties  shall  not  otherwise 
agree,  the  said  corjjoration  shall  pay  such  damages  as  shall  be  ascer- 
tained and  determined  by  the  county  commissioners  for  the  county 
where  such  land  or  other  property  may  be  situated,  in  the  same  man- 


20 


ner  and  under  the  same  conditions  and  limitations  as  are  by  law  pro- 
vided in  the  case  of  damages  by  the  laying  out  of  highways ;  and  the 
jand  so  taken  by  sai^^  corporation  shall  be  held  as  lands  taken  and  ap- 
propriated for  highways.  And  no  application  to  said  commissioners 
to  estimate  said  damages  shall  be  sustained  unless  made  within  three 
years  from 'the  time  of  taking  such  land  or  other  property;  and  in  case 
such  railroad  shall  pass  through  any  woodland  or  forests,  the  said 
company  shall  have  a  right  to  fell  or  remove  any  trees  standing, there- 
in within  four  rods  of  such  road,  which  by  their  liability  to  be  blown 
down,  or  from  their  natural  falling,  might  obstruct  or  impair  said  rail- 
road, by  paying  a  just  compensation  therefor,  to  be  recovered  in  the 
same  manner  as  provided  for  the  recovery  of  other  damages  in  this 
act. 

Section  2.  The  capital  sfock  of  said  corporation  shall  consist  of 
not  less  than  one  thousand  nor  more  than  t^venty  thousand  shares,  and 
the  immediate  government  and  direction  of  the  affairs  of  said  corpor- 
ation shall  be  vested  in  nine  directors,  who  shall  be  chosen  by  the 
members  of  said  corporation,  in  the  manner  hereinafter  provided,  and 
shall  hold  their  office  until  others  shall  have  been  duly  elected  and 
qualified  to  take  their  place,  a  majority  of  whom  shall  form  a  quorum 
for  the  transaction  of  business,  and  they  shall  elect  one  of  their  num- 
ber to  be  president  of  the  corporation,  and  shall  have  authority  to 
choose  a  clerk,  who  shall  be  sworn  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duty, 
and  a  treasurer  who  shall  be  sworn,  and  also  give  bonds  to  the  corpor- 
ation, with  sureties  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  directors,  in  a  sum  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  dollars,  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  trust ; 
and  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  subscriptions  to  the  said  stock,  books 
shall  be  opened,  under  the  direction  of  the  persons  named  in  the  first 
section  of  this  act,  at  such  times  as  they  may  determine,  in  the  city  of 
Portland  and  elsewhere  as  they  shall  appoint,  to  remain  opei^for  five 
successive  days  at  least,  of  which  time  and  place  of  subscription  pub- 
lic notice  shall  be  given  in  one  newspaper  printed  in  each  of  the  coun- 
ties of  Cumberland  and  York  ten  days  before  the  opening  of  such  sub- 
scriptions ;  and  any  seven  of  the  persons  named  in  the  first  section  of 
this  act  are  hereby  authorized  to  call  the  first  meeting  of  said  corpora- 
tion, for  the  choice  of  directors  and  organization,  by  giving  notice  in 
one  or  more  newspapers  published  as  before  named,  of  the  time  and 
place  and  the  purposes  of  such  meeting,  at  least  fourteen  days  before 
the  time  mentioned  in  such  notice. 

Section  3.  "When  said  corporation  shall  take  any  laad  or  other  es- 
tate, as  aforesaid,  of  any  infant,  person  non  compos  mentis,  or  feme 
covert,  whose  husband  is  under  guardianship,  the  giyirdianship  of  such 
infant,  or  person  non  compos  mentis,  and  such  feme  covert  with  the 
guardian  of  her  husband,  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  agree 


21 


and  settle  with  said  corporation  for  damages  or  claims  for  damages 
by  reason  of  taking  such  land  and  estate  as  aforesaid,  and  give  good 
and  valid  releases  and  discharges  therefor. 

Section  4.  The  president  and  directors  fo»  the  time  being  are  here- 
by authorized  and  empowered  by  themselves  or  their  agents,  to  exer- 
cise all  the  powers  herein  granted  to  the  corporations  for  the  purposes 
of  locating,  constructing  and  completing  said  railroad  and  branch,  and 
for  the  transportation  of  persons,  goods  and  property  of  all  descrip- 
tions, and  all  such  powers  and  authority  for  the  management  of  the 
affairs  of  the  corporation,  as  may  be  necessary  and  proper  to  carry  in- 
to effect  the  objects  of  this  grant,  to  purchase  and  hold  land,  materi- 
als, engines  and  cars,  and  other  necessary  things  in  the  name  of  the 
corporation,  for  the  use  of  said  road,  and  ^or  the  transportation  of  per- 
sons, goods  and  property  of  all  descriptions,  to  make  such  equal  assess- 
ment from  time  to  time  on  all  the  shares  in  said  corporation  as  they 
may  deem  expedient  and  necessary  in  the  execution  and  progress  of 
the  work,  and  direct  the  same  to  be  paid  to  the  treasurer  of  this  cor- 
poration. And  the  treasurer  shall  give  notice  of  all  such  assessments ; 
and  in  case  any  subscriber  or  stockholder  shall  neglect  to  pay  any  as- 
sessment on  his  share  or  shares  for  the  space  of  thirty  days  after  such 
notice  is  given  or  shall  be  prescribed  by  the  by-laws  of  said  corpora- 
tion, the  directors  may  order  the  treasurer  to  sell  such  share  or  shares 
at  public  auction,  after  giving  such  notice  as  may  be  prescribed,  as 
aforesaid,  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  the  same  shall  be  transferred  to 
the  purchaser,  and  such  delinquent  subscriber  or  stockholder  shall  be 
held  accountable  to  the  corporation  for  the  balance,  if  his  share  or 
shares  shall  sell  for  less  than  the  assessments  due  thereon,  with  the  in- 
terest and  costs  of  sale ;  and  shall  be  entitled  to  the  overplus,  if  his 
share  or  shares  sell  for  more  than  the  assessments  due,  with  interest 
and  costs  of  sale :  Provided,  however,  that  no  assessment  s.hall  be  laid 
upon  any  shares  in  said  corporation  of  a  greater  amount  in  the  whole 
than  one  hundred  dollars. 

Section  5.  A  toll  is  hereby  granted  and  established  for  the  sole- 
benefit  of  said  corporation,  upon  all  passengers  and  property  of  all 
descriptions  which  may  be  conveyed  or*  transported  by  them  upon  said 
road,"  at  such  rates  as  may  be  agreed  upon  and  established  from  time 
to  time  by  the  directors  of  said  corporation.  The  transportation  of 
persons  and  property,  the  construction  of  wheels^,  the  form  of  cars  and 
carriages,  the  rights  of  roads,  and  all  other  matters  and  things  in  rela- 
tion to  said  road  shall  be  in  conformity  with  such  rule,  regulations  and 
provisions,  as  the  directors  shall  from  time  to  time  prescribe  and  direct. 

Section  6.  The  legislature  may  authorize  any  other  company  or 
companies,  to  connect  any  other  railroad  or  railroads,  with  the  railroad 
of  said  corporation,  at  any  point  on  the  route  of  said  railroad.    And 


22 


said  corporation  shall  receive  and  transport  all  persons,  goods  and 
property  of  all  descriptions,  which  may  be  carried  and  transported  to 
the  railroad  of  said  corporation,  on  such  other  i-ailroads  as  may  be 
hereafter  authorized  to»be' connected  therewith,  at  the  same  rates  of 
toll  and  freight  as  may  be  prescribed  by  said  corporation,  so  that  the 
rates  of  freight  and  toll  of  such  passengers  and  goods  and  other  prop- 
erty as  may  be  received  from  such  other  railroads  so  connected  with 
said  road  as  aforesaid,  shall  not  exceed  the  general  rates  of  freight  and 
toll  on  said  railroad,  received  for  freight  and  passengers  at  any  of  the 
deposits  of  said  corporation. 

Section  7.  If  said  railroatl,  in  the  course  thereof,  shall  cross  any 
private  way,  the  said  corporation  shall  so  construct  said  railroad  as 
not  to  obstruct  the  safe  and.  convenient  use  of  such  private  way ;  and 
if  said  railroad  shall,  in  the  course  thereof,  cross  any  canal,  railroad,  or 
the  highway,  tlie  said  railroad  shall  be  so  constructed  as  not  to  obstruct 
the  safe  and  convenient  uses  of  such  canal  or  highway ;  and  the  said 
corporation  shall  have  power  to  raise  or  lower  such  highway  or  pri- 
vate way,  so  that  the  said  railroad,  if  necessary,  may  conveniently  pass 
over  or  under  the  same,  and  erect  such  gate  or  gates  thereon  as  may 
be  necessary  for  the  safety  of  travelers  on  said  railroad,  highway  or 
private  way,  and  shall  keep  all  bridges  and  embankments  necessary 
for  the  same  in  good  repair. 

Section  8.  Said  railroad  corporation  shall  erect  and  maintain  sub- 
stantial, legal  and  sufficient  fences  on  each  side  of  the  land  taken  by 
them  for  their  railroad,  where  the  same  passes  through  enclosed  or  im- 
proved lands,  or  lands  that  may  be  hereafter  improved. 

Section  0.  The  said  corporation  shall  at  all  times,  when  the  post- 
master general  shall  require  it,  be  holden  to  transport  the  mail  of  the 
United  States  from  and  to  such  place  or  places  on  said  road  as  may  be 
required,  fpr  a  fair  and  reasonable  compensation ;  and  in  case  the  cor- 
poration and  the  postmaster  general  shall  be  unable  to  agree  upon  the 
compensation  aforesaid,  the  legislature  of  the  state  shall  detennine  the 
same ;  and  the  said  corporation,  after  they  shall  commence  the  receiv- 
ing of  tolls,  shall  be  bound  at  all  times  to  have  said  railroad  in  good 
repair,  and  a  sufficient  numbei'of  suitable  engines,  carriages  and  vehi- 
cles for  transportation  of  persons  and  articles,  and  be  obliged  to  re- 
ceive at  all  proper  times  and  places,  and  carry  the  same,  when  the  ap- 
propriate tolls  therefor  shall  be  paid  or  tendered ;  and  a  lien  is  hereby 
created  on  all  articles  transported  for  said  tolls,  and  said  corporation 
fulfilling  on  its  part  all  and  singular  the  several  obligations  and  duties 
by  this  section  imposed  and  enjoined  upon  it,  shall  not  be  held  or 
bound  to  allow  any  engine,  locomotive,  cars,  carriages  or  other  vehicle) 
for  the  transpoi^tation  of  persons  or  merchandise,  to  pass  over  said 
railroad,  other  than  its  own,  furnished  and  provided  for  tha't  purpose, 


23 


as  herein  enjoined  and  required :  Provided,  however,  that  said  corpor 
ation  shall  be  under  obligation  to  transport  over  said  road  the  passen- 
ger and  other  cars  of  any  other  incorporated  company  that  may  here- 
after construct  a  railroad  connecting  with  that  hereby  authorized,  such 
other  company  being  subject  to  all  the  provisions  of  the  fifth  and  sixth 
sections  of  this  act,  as  to  rates  of  toll  and  all  other  particulars  enu- 
merated in  said  sections. 

Section  10.  If  any  person  shall  wilfully  and  maliciously,  or  wan- 
tonly and  contrary  to  law,  obstruct  the  passage  of  any  carriages  on 
such  railroad,  or  in  any  way  spoil,  injure  or  destroy  said  railroad,  or 
any  part  thereof,  or  anything  belonging  thereto,  or  any  materials  or 
implements  to  be  employed  in  the  construction  of,  or  for  the  use  of 
said  road,  he,  she  or  they,  or  any  person  or  persons  assisting,  aiding  or 
abetting  such  trespass,  shall  forfeit  and  pay  to  said  corporation,  for 
every  such  offence,  treble  such  damages  as  shall  be  proved  before  the 
justice,  court  or  jury  before  whom  the  trial  shall  be  had,  to  be  sued 
for  before  any  justice,  or  in  any  court  proper  to  try  the  same,  by  the 
treasurer  of  the  corporation,  or  other  officer  whom  they  may  direct,  to 
the  use  of  said  corporation ;  and  such  offender  or  offenders  shall  be 
liable  to  indictment  by  the  grand  jui-y  of  the  county  within  which  tres- 
pass shall  have  been  committed,  for  any  offence  or  offences  contrary  to 
the  above  provisions ;  and  upon  conviction  thereof  before  any  court 
competent  to  try  the  same,  shall  pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  hundred 
dollars  to  the  use  of  the  state,  or  may  be  imprisoned  for  a  term  not  ex- 
ceeding five  years,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court  before  whom  such 
conviction  may  be  had. 

Section  11,  Said  corporation  shall  keep  in  a  book,  for  that  purpose, 
a  regular  account  of  all  their  disbursements,  expenditures  and  receipts, 
and  the  books  of  said  corporation  shall  at  all  times  be  open  to  the  in- 
spection of  the  governor  and  council,  and  of  any  committee  duly  au- 
thorized by  the  legislature,  and  at  the  expiration  of  every  year  the 
♦treasurer  of  said  corporation  shall  make  an  exhibit,  under  oath,  to  the 
legislature,  of  the  profits  derived  from  the  income  of  said  railroad. 

Section  12.  All  real  estate  purchased  by  said  corporation  for  the 
use  of  the  same  under  the  fourth  section  of  this  act,  shall  be  taxable 
to  said  corporation  by  the  several  cities,  towns  and  plantations  in 
which  said  land  lies,  in  the  same  manner  as  lands  owned  by  private 
persons,  and  shall  in  the  valuation  list,  be  estimated  the  same  as  other 
adjacent  lands  of  the  same  quality  in  such  city,  town  or  plantation,  and 
not  otherwise,  and  the  shares  owned  by  the  respective  stockholders, 
shall  be  deemed  personal  estate,  and  be  taxable  as  such,  to  the  owners 
thereof,  in  the  places  where  they  reside  and  have  their  homes.  And 
whenever  the  net  income  of  said  corporation  shall  have  amounted  to 
ten  per  centum  per  annum  upon  the  cost  of  the  road  and  its  appen- 


24 


daues  and  incidental  expenses,  the  directors  shall  make  a  special  re- 
port of  the  fact  to  the  legislature,  from  and  after  which  time,  one 
moiety,  or  such  other  portion  as  the  legislature  may  from  time  to  time 
determine,  of  the  net  income  of  said  railroad,  accruing  thereafter  over 
and  above  ten  per  centuifl  per  annum  first  to  be  paid  to  the  stockhold- 
ers, shall  annually  be  paid  over  to  the  treasurer  of  said  corporation,  as 
a  t^x  in  the  treasury  of  the  state,  for  the  use  of  the  state ;  and  the 
state  may  liave  and  maintain  an  action  against  said  corporation  there- 
for, to  recover  the  same ;  but  no  other  tax  than  herein  is  provided  shall 
ever  be  levied  or  assessed  on  said  corporation  or  any  of  their  privileges 
or  franchises. 

Section  13.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  members  of  said  corpora- 
tion shall  be  holden  on  the  first  Monday  in  Januaiy,  or  such  other  day 
as  shall  be  determined  by  the  by-laws,  at  such  time  and  place  as  the 
directors  for  the  time  being  shall  appoint,  at  which  meeting  the  direc- 
tors shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  each  proprietor  by  himself  or  proxy  be- 
ing entitled  to  as  many  votes  as  he  holds  shares ;  and  the  directors  are 
■diereby  authorized  to  call  special  meetings  of  the  stockholders,  when- 
ever they  shall  deem  it  expedient  and  proper,  giving  such  notice  as  the 
corporation  by  their  by-laws  shall  direct. 

Section  14.  The  legislature  shall  at  all  times  have  the  right  to  in- 
quire into  the  doings  of  the  corporation,  and  into  the  manner  in  which 
the  privileges  and  franchises  herein  and  hereby  granted  may  have  been 
used  and  employed  by  said  corporation.  And  to  correct  and  prevent 
all  abuses  of  the  same,  and  to  pass -any  laws  imposing  fines  and  pen- 
alties upon  said  corporation  which  may  be  necessary,  more  eftectually 
to  compel  a  compliance  with  the  provisions,  liabilities  and  duties  here- 
inbefore set  forth  and  enjoined,  but  not  to  impose  any  other  or  further 
duties,  liabilities  or  obligations. 

Section  15.  If  the  said  corporation  shall  not  have  been  organized, 
and  the  location,  according  to  actual  survey  of  tlie  route,  filed  with  the 
county  commissioners  of  the  counties  through  which  the  same  shall^ 
pass,  on  or  before  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  in  tlie  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy,  or  if  the  said  corpora- 
tion shall  fail  to  complete  said  railroad  to  the  west  line  of  the  state  on 
or  before  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-three,  in  either  of  the  above  men- 
tioned cases,  this  act  shall  be  null  and  void. 

Section  16.  Other  railroad  companies  now  incorporated  or  hereaf- 
ter to  be  incorporated  in  this  state  shall  have  the  right  to  connect  their 
railroads  with  the  railroad  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Com- 
pany in  any  town  Tilong  the  line  of  its  road ;  and  no  discrimination  in 
the  rates  of  freight  or  passengers  shall  be  made  by  said  company  nor 
by  any  party  who  may  operate  its  line  of  railway  or  any  pait  thereof, 


25 


between  railroads  having  the  right  to  contract  with  its  railroad  as 
aforesaid ;  but  all  passengers  and  all  freight  coming  from  or  going  to 
any  other  road  having  such  right  to  connect  shall  be  transported 
promptly  and  on  terms  alike  favorable  by  said  company  over  its  own 
road,  or  by  any  party  operating  the  same,  and  on  terms  as  favorable  as 
the  like  service  is  or  shall  be  performed  for  transportation  commenc- 
ing and  terminating  on  the  line  of  railway  of  said  company. 
Sectiois'  17.    This  act  shall  take  effect  when  approved. 

[Approved  March  6,  1868.] 

By  the  terms  of  this  charter,  the  most  Uberal  powers  have 
b3en  granted,  so  as  to  form  a  consohdated  Hne  from  Portland 
to  Rutland.  The  committee,  therefore,  appointed  on  the 
19th  of  February  last,  have  fully  discharged  their  duty,  and 
the  matter  now  rests  in  the  hands  of  the  corporators. 

On  motion  of  J.  B.  Carroll,  Esq.,  Voted,  that  the  follow- 
ing gentlemen  be  admitted  as  associa:te  corporators  : 

John  Mussey  of  Portland,  John  Neal,  Francis  Macdonald,  Wm.  W' 
Woodbury,  Joseph  Howard,  Horatio  J. -Swasey  of  Standish,  L.  D.  M 
Sweat  of  Portland,  Jabez  C.  Woodman  of  Portland,  Wm.  Willis,  John 
A.  Waterman  of  Gorham,  Charles  H.  Fling  of  Portland,  John  F.  An- 
derson of  Windham,  Samuel  Tyler  of  Brownfield,  James  M.  Kimball  of 
Portland,  E.  S.  Ridlen  of  Parsonsfield,  L.  D.  Stacy  of  Porter,  Albert 
Merrill  of  Portland,  Samuel  Hanson  of  Buxton. 

The  chairman  then  introduced  to  the  meeting,  Henry 
Clark,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  Rutland  Herald.  Mr.  Clark  said 
that  in  appearing  before  the  assembly  as  the  representative  of 
the  Western  terminus  of  this  projected  line  of  railway,  which 
was  intended  only  as  a  link  in  the  great  chain  which  was  to 
connect  the  seaboard  and  the  West,  the  people  he  represented 
fully  appreciated  the  position  of  Portland  in  seeking  an  outlet 
to  the  great  West,  and  that  theirs  was  the  position  of  a  trav- 
eler seeking  information,  as  to  the  shortest  and  easiest  route 
to  be  built,  to  best  serve  the  commercial  interests  of  their 
growing  city,  and  in  presenting  to  them  the  claims  of  the 
route  by  way  of  Rutland,  had  no  opposition  to  make  to  any 
other  projected  enterprise  for  attaining  the  same  purpose. 


26 


There  were  three  routes  presented,  the  Central  direct  route, 
via  White  River  Junction  and  Rutland.  This  route  would 
give  connection  with  the  nearest  water  communication,  reach- 
ing the  Champlain  Canal  at  Whitehall,  and  the  Erie  Canal 
at  Buffalo,  in  summer,  and  also  givQ  them  an  all-rail  commu- 
nication in  winter.  There  was  another  proposed  route : 
through  the  notch  of  the  White  Mountains  and  by  way  of 
the  Lamoille  Valley  through  Northern  Vermont,  connecting 
at  Swanton  with  the  Vermont  Central.  Railroad,  and  thence 
on  to  Ogdensburg,  a  circuitous  route  —  affording  water  com- 
munication only  half  the  year.  He  came  not  to  put  any  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  the  building  of  that  road,  for  the  people 
of  his  section  would  gladly  see  that  enterprise  carried  forward, 
opening  a  rich  section  of  the  State  without  railroad  facilities, 
which  would  add  matenally  to  the  wealth  and  industry  of  the 
State,  and  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  people  of  Portland 
to  the  central .  route,  it  was  not  in  opposition,  but  that  they 
might  give  consideration  to  both  lines  and  determine  for  them- 
selves which  it  was  for  their  true  interest  to  build  first,  to  get 
the  desired  communication  with  the  West.  There  was  an- 
other interest  represented  in  this  meeting  who  desired  to  pre- 
sent the  claims  of  a  route  via  Wells  River  to  Montpelier, 
connecting  at  that  point  with  the  Vermont  Central,  and  thence 
on  to  Ogdensburg.  In  part,  their  enterprise  was  identical 
with  the  one  he  represented,  making  a  common  line  to  some 
point  in  the  Ossipee  Valley,  and  thence  diverging  over  to 
*  Montpelier,  and  the  other  down  through  the  valley,  connect- 
ing with  the  Northern  New  Hampshire  line  to  White  River 
Junction  and  Rutland.  The  people  of  Vermont,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Green  Mountains,  which  traversed  the  whole 
length  of  the  State,  had  a  local  interest  in  the  building  of  the 
road  from  Rutland  to  White  River  Junction  to  stimulate 
them,  in  addition  to  making  a  great  thoroughfare  to  the  West. 
They  desire  a  speedier  and  more  direct  communication  with 
the  capital  of  the  State,  and  the  building  of  that  link  of  road 


27 


would  practically  break  down  the  mountain  barrier  that  now 
existed,  and  make  them  one  people,  as  at  present  they  were 
divided  and  separated. 

The  proposed  route  is  to  compose  a  part  of  the  great  chain 
of  railways  connecting  our  northeastern  sea-coast  with  the 
great  mart  of  western  trade,  Chicago,  and  thus  a  route-  to  the 
extensive  grain  growing  States  of  that  section  of  our  country, 
affording  quicker,  easier  and  shorter  transit  to  passengers  and 
freight  to  and  from  Europe  than  any  now  built,  or  that  are 
projected.  Starting  from  Portland,  which  has  the  best  harbor 
and  most  convenient  facilities  for  transhipment  of  freight,  and 
especially  of  grain,  of  any  port  in  the  United  States,  its 
wharves  and  railways  being  so  arranged  that  the  cars  are 
taken  directly  along  the  side  of  the  ships,  thus  enabling  the 
freight  arriving  there  to  be  reloaded  at  a  very  small  cost, 
saving  the  cartage  and  its  expense,  which  is  found  so  great  a 
burden  and  obstacle  at  Boston,  New  York  and  other  points, 
and  will  be  the  accomplishment  in  verity  of  the  plan  proposed 
in  the  scheme  of  Mr.  Adams,  as  presented  in  the  last  number 
of  the  North  American  Review^  in  reference  to  a  marginal 
railway  in  connection  with  the  shipping  interests  of  Boston. 

After  very  clearly  explaining  again  the  proposed  road,  he 
said  that  the  people  of  his  section  expected  Portland  to  con- 
sult its  own  interest ;  and  if  they  did,  he  felt  sure  they  would 
favor  the  direct  route.  All  that  Portland  people  would  have 
to  do  would  be  to  meet  them  at  White  River  Junction  ;  they 
would  take  care  of  the  rest.  He  gave  interesting  information 
in  regard  to  the  wealth  and  resources  of  that  portion  of  Ver- 
mont and  the  progress  of  the  roads  which  will  form  parts  of 
this  line.  They  would  have  but  fifty  miles  in  all  to  build, 
fourteen  of  which  are  now  in  progress,  and  the  surveys 
making  for  the  remainder. 


28 


John  Cain,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  Rutland  Courier,  was  next 
introduced,  and  said,  .    , 

Mr.  President  axd  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  — 

Permit  me  to  say  in  response  to  your  call,  that  in  the  year  1830,  now 
thirty-eight  years  ago, — when  a  lad, — I  had  the  pleasure  of  riding  on 
the  first  train  of  cars  from  Liverpool  to  Manchester,  the  first  Railroad 
constructed  in  England.  I  had  also  the  pain,  at  the  same  time,  of  be- 
holding Sir  William  Huskisson, — the  great  promoter  of  the  road, — kill- 
ed, while  endeavoring  to  step  on  to  the  cars.  From  that  period  I  have 
felt  interested  in  the  construction  of  railroads,  and  the  nature  of  the 
countiy  over  which  they  passed.  In  1842,  twenty-six  years  ago,  and 
as  soon  as  it  was  decided  to  build  the  Boston  and  Fitchburg  road,  liv- 
ing then  as  I  do  now,  in  Rutland,  Vermont,  the  only  New  England 
State  cut  off  from  the  ocean,  I  assisted  in  and  caused  a  survey  to  be 
made  from  Rutland  to  Ludlow,  mostly  at  my  own  expense,  to  ascertain 
the  practicability  of  crossing  the  Green  Mountains  in  Mountholly,  so 
that  Western  Vermont  might  have  an  outlet  to  the  sea.  This  road 
was  put  into  successful  operation  a  few  years  later  to  Boston,  via  Keene 
and  Fitchburg.  We  have,  at  this  time,  communication  from  Rutland 
by  rail  in  every  direction  but  the  East,  and  like  those  still  west  of  us, 
are  anxious  to  open  a  direct  route  to  Portland, whose  harbor,  wharves, 
and  geographical  position,  are  well  calculated  to  make  your  city  the 
great  granary  for  the  West,  from  whence  the  starving  millions  of 
Europe  may  be  fed. 

The  gentleman  that  preceded  me,  and  myself,  have  been  invited  to 
unite  with  you  A  devising  ways  and  means  to  construct  a  railroad 
from  Portland  to  Rutland,  a  portion  of  which  is  already  built,  and 
other  portions  under  contract  and  in  course  of  construction.  That 
gentleman  and  myself,  when  at  home,  agree  to  disagree  in  our  respec- 
tive papers,  on  the  all  absorbing  political  questions  of  the  day.  On 
the  subject  matter  of  this  Convontion,  however,  (the  Portland  and 
Rutland  Railroad,)  neither  he  and  I,  or  our  constituents  in  Rutland 
County,  will  have  the  slightest  misunderstanding  or  disagreemeni;. 

Not  only  as  the  great  artery  and  highway  for  the  exchange  of  the 
commerce  and  productions  of  the  East  and  West,  is  this  road  desirable, 
but  also  for  the  local  accommodation  of  our  own  New  England  people. 
Maine,  (the  Pine  Tree  State,)  proverbial  for  her  immense  quantity  of 
lumber,  can  find  a  new  market  in  Western  Vermont,  by  the  proposed 
direct  railroad  to  Rutland,  and  the  cars  can  be  laden  on  return  with 
marble  for  your  Custom  House,  and  other  edifices,  which  your  enter- 
prise and  energy  are  erecting  in  that  portion  of  the  city  so  lately  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  and  which  now  reach  you  only  by  going  a  circuitous 
route  (via  Boston)  over  a  hundred  miles  greater  distance  than  by  the 


29 


contemplated  route  direct  to  Kutland.  Yes,  Mr.  President,  our  admin- 
istrators too,  will  need  your  pine  for  our  coffins,  while  yours,  will  seek 
our  Rutland  County  marine  for  your  tomb  stones. 

The  Green  Mountain  range  extend  from  Massachusetts  through  the 
whole  length  of  Vermont  and  into  Canada.  With  the  exception  of  the 
passes  of  the  Mountholly  gap,  through  which  is  built  the  Eutland  and 
Burlington  road  to  Bellows  Falls,  (on  the  Connecticut  river), Fitchburg 
and  Boston ;  and  the  Winooski  River  pass,  through  which  runs  the 
Vermont  Central  to  Montpelier,  White  River  Junction,  Concord,  and 
Boston ;  there  are  a  hundred  miles  of  mountain  barrier,  which  separ- 
ates AVestern  from  Eastern  Vermont,  and  the  rest  of  Xew  England. 
The  distance  from  Rutland  to  Boston  is  166  miles.  The  distance  from 
Boston  to  Portland  is  110  miles,  making  276  miles  that  my  friend  Clark 
of  the  Rutland  Herald,  and  myself  have  traveled  to  get  here,  while  from 
Portland  to  Rutland,  by  the  route  here  proposed,  via  White  River 
Junction  and  Woodstock,  is  only  160  miles.  Indeed  the  White  River 
Junction,  Woodstock,  and  Rutland  Route  form  an  intermediate  notch 
in  the  mountain  between  two  extremes,  as  if  designed  by  nature 
purposely  for  a  direct  route  from  San  Francisco  on  the  Pacific 
to  Portland  and  Halifax  on  the  Atlantic,  and  over  which,  will  be 
conveyed  the  teas,  coffee,  silks,  and  spices  of  China,  India,  and  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  the  productions  of  the  great 
West,  destined  for  Europe,  as  well  as  for  the  Atlantic  States;  and 
by  this  route,  too,  will  return  in  the  same  steamers,  to  this  harbor  and 
thence  by  rail,  the  surplus  population  of  the  old  world  seeking  a  home 
in  the  West. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  you  can  all  see  for  yourselves,  by  this 
map  placed  here  for  our  guidance,  that  Bellows  Falls,  on  the  Connecti- 
cut river,  is  too  far  south  for  a  connection  between  Portland  and  Buf- 
falo, or  Chicago.  On  the  other  hand,  Wells  River,  and  Montpelier,  or 
the  Lamoille  Valley  route  through  the  Green  Mountains,  are  too  far 
north,  as  both  have  to  take  a  circuit  to  the  extreme  north  end  of  Lake 
Champlain  at  its  outlet  near  Rouse's  Point,  120  miles  north  of  Whitehall, 
which  is  at  the  south  end,  or  the  head  of  the  lake,  on  a  straight  line  be- 
tween Portland  and  Rome,  Bufialo  or  Chicago.  The  Portland  and  Og- 
densburg  road,  so  called,  has  been  agitated  for  years,  while  the  Portland 
and  Rutland  route  has  but  quite  recently  been  brought  before  the  pub- 
lic, who  are  yet  comparatively  unacquainted  with  its  merits.*  Its 
friends,  however,  make  no  opposition  to  any  other  route  from  Portland 
to  the  West,  nor  will  they  oppose,  hinder,  or  obstruct  the  granting  of 
a  charter  through  any  State,  for  any  other  route,  but  rely,  entirely  upon 
the  shortness  and  directness  of  the  Portland,  White  River  Junction, 
Woodstock,  Rutland,  and  Whitehall  route,  and  the  moderate  grades, 
and  the  few  and  unobjectionable  curves,  to  convince  all  thinking  men 


30 


as  to  the  best  route,  in  every  respect,  from  the  East  to  the  West  for 
either  through  or  way  passengers  and  freight. 

Not  only  on  a  direct  line  West,  is  the  Rutl^d"  route  preferable,  but 
it  will  be  actually  the  shortest  and  best  route  from  Portland  to  Ogdens- 
burg,  by  building  nine  miles  of  road  from  Whiting,  on  the  Rutland  and 
Burlington  Road,  to  opposite  Crown  Point  on  Lake  Champlain,  and 
for  which  the  Legislature  of  Vermont  has  already  granted  a  charter. 
From  this  point,  with  a  bridge  of  half  a  mile  aeross  the  narrow  lake, 
connection  is  made  with  the  Plattsburg  and  Wliite  Hall  Road,  now  in 
course  of  construction,  and  which  is  actually  the  shortest  route  to 
Ogdensburg,  where  the'water  communication  of  the  Lakes  brings  im- 
mense quantities  of  freight,  which,  when  once  at  Rutland  can  be  for- 
warded to  any  point  of  the  compass,  by  the  proposed,  and  already  con- 
necting, lines  of  road  terminating  there. 

The  connecting  of  the  Portland  nnd  Rutland  Road  .at  White  River 
Junction,  with  the  Vermont  Central,  and  Sullivan  Roads,  as  well  as  its 
passage  through  the  center  of  Windsor  and  Rutland  Counties,  the  two 
largest  and  wealthiest  Counties  in  the  State,  would  be  of  immese  im- 
portance to  this  road.  All  north  of  this  great  direct  East  and  West 
ine  will  flow  on  to  it,  when,  on  the  other  liand,  by  the  proposed  Port- 
land and  Ogdensburg  route,  much  south  of  such  a  line,  would  very 
naturally  reach  Albany,  Troy,  New  York,  Springfield,  Hartford,  New 
Haven,  Worcester,  Lowell,  and-  Boston.  Let  the  citizens  of  Portland 
only  examine  any  correct  map  of  the  United  States,  and  they  must 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  great  enterprise  agitated  here  to-day, 
must  meet  with  their  approbation  and  their  material  aid.  In  conclu- 
sion, I  would  say,  build  the  few  links  between  Portland  and  White 
River  Junction,  and  Vennont  and  New  York  will  fill  the  remaining 
gaps,  and  make  your  city  the  Queen  of  the  East,  as  Chicago  is  of  the 
West. 

Hon.  O.  F.  Fowler,  of  Bristol,  N.  H.,  addressed  the  con- 
vention, in  favor  of  a  route  through  the  Ossipee  Valley  and 
Center  Harbor,  giving  statistics  of  his  town  and  vicinity  as 
follows  : 

Mr.  PllESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN   OF  THE   CONVENTION:  — 

We  *i'e  here  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  by  invitation,  the  corporar 
tors  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad.  When  we  were  in  this  city 
last  February,  we  agreed  to  make  a  preliminary  survey,  and  having 
made  such  a  survey,  we  will  now  state  substantially  our  success.  We 
have  been  through  from  a  line  on  the  Northern  Railroad  at  [Danbury, 
through  the  towns  of  Hill,  Alexandria,  Bristol,  New  Hampton,  Mere- 
dith and  Center  Harbor,  a  distance  of  25  miles,  and  find  it  not  only 


31. 


practicable,  but  exceedingly  feasible.  Passing  through  the  above  towns ^ 
it  opens  a  thoroughfare  where  quite  a  large  amount  of  additional  busi- 
ness will  be  brought  into  market  that  now  has  no  market  at  all.  The 
above  route  is  very  straight,  the  grades  light,  and  the  construction 
mu^t  be  comparatively  easy.  The  people  along  this  line  feel  a  deep  in- 
terest in  its  construction,  and  will  do  all  in  their  power  to  aid  in  the 
same.  The  business  along  the  line  of  this  road  will  help  towards  sus- 
taining the  road.  The  business  of  our  own  town  is  not  a  small  item, 
when  taken  in  connection  with  others,  towards  helping  in  this  enter- 
prise. •  We  have  a  flouring  mill,  whose  owners  now  offer  to  obligate 
themselves  to  pay  for  freight  alone,  $15,000  per  year.  We  have  twelve 
stores  whose  united  tonage,  amounts  to  50,000  tons  annually,  aside  from 
the  lumber  trade.  We  have  one  of  the  best  water  powers  in  the  State, 
one  and  one-half  miles  from  Newfound  Lake,  which  contains  fifteen 
square  miles  and  a  fall  of  105  feet,  making  it  capable  of  being  used  to 
very  great  advantage.  The  water  is  controlled  by  the  Winnipissiogee 
Lake  Cotton  and  Wollen  Manufacturing  Company,  chaFtered  in  1846, 
on  which  said  company  have  expended  large  sums  of  money  in  rights, 
excavations  and  dams,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  water  in  dry 
seasons ;  and  by  so  doing,  have  secured  to  us  a  never  failing  stream  of 
water.  There  are  now  in  operation  on  said  stream,  three  woolen  mills, 
two  large  paper  mills,  two  large  tanneries,  one  extensive  carriage  shop, 
where  the  best  waggons  are  made  in  this  part  of  the  State;  an  exten- 
sive bedstead  manufactory,  foundry,  machine  shop,  and  all  kinds  of 
mechanics  found  any  where,  and  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and 
thriving  villages  in  New  England.  We  are  thirty  miles  from  Concord, 
and  have  a  railroad  now  to  this  place ;  and  when  the  Portland  and  Rut- 
land Railroad  shall  have  been  completed  by  the  Ossipee  Valley  route, 
we  shall  have  a  junction  of  the  Franklin  and  Bi^stol  Railroad,  with  the 
Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  at  this  point ;  and  which  will  make  the 
additional  line  of  road  from  Franklin  to  Danbury,  without  increasing 
the  distance  and  with  much  less  grade.  Besides  all  this,  our  village  is 
one  of  the  most  attractive  places  of  resort  there  is  to  be  found  in  New 
Hampshire.  Newfound  Lake,  with  its  beautiful  scenery,  and  the 
steamer  on  its  waters,  make  it  a  resort  for  many. 

One  other  thing  in  this  connection  is  worthy  of  remark,  which  is,  we 
now  have  in  process  of  construction,  a  hotel,  which  will  be  worthy  0£ 
the  attention  of  the  public.  It  is  four  stories  besides  basement,  which 
will  add  largely  to  the  business  interests  of  the  place  and  of  the  road. 
One  word  in  relation  to  New  Hampton,  on  the  line  of  this  road.  There 
is  an  institution  under  the  management  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  Church 
of  the  first  order,  where  hundreds  of  students  coTlect  from  a  very  large 
territory.  They  are  an  enterprising  set  of  people  and  men  of  means 
and  of  indomitable  perseverance,  and  mean  to  succeed. 


32 


We  well  know  that  we  cannot  do  much,  but  being  one  of  the  con- 
necting links  in  this  great  chain,  we  are  satisfied  that  the  East  and 
West  will  be  connected  by  rail,  and  we  being  geographically  in  the  cen- 
ter of  the  State,  Portland  being  due  east  and  Rutland  due  west,  and 
place  a  line  on  Portland  and  Rutland  across  the  State,  and  it  falls  di- 
rectly through  our  village ;  and  in  consideration  of  that  fact,  we  have 
the  most  direct,  shortest  and  straitest  route  from  Portland  to  Rutland 
and  Chicago;  and  we  think,  Mr.  P.,  that  the  plan  and  survey  we  have 
shown  you  by  one  of  the  most  competent  engineers  in  the  State,  Mr. 
Latham,  that  we  have  a  route  that  will  commend  itself  to  the  business 
men  of  the  countiy ;  and  we  are  bound  to  use  all  and  every  honorable 
means  in  our  power  to  accomplish  an  object  that  when  once  consuma- 
ted,  will  be  a  lasting  blessing  to  all  who  shall  come  after  us,  as  well  as 
a  profitable  investment  to  its  stockholders.  We  have  the  utmost  con- 
fidence that  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature  will  grant  our  prayer  and 
give  us  the  desired  charter. 
• 

Geo.  F.  Crawford,  Esq.,  of  New  Hampton,  next  addressed 

the  Convention,  giving  some  account  of  the  survey  between 
Danbury  and  Center  Harbor. 

S.  K.  Mason,  Esq.,  member  of  the  N.  H.  Legislature,  next 
addressed  tlie  convention  in  favor  of  the  route  via  Bristol. 

Mr.  H.  J.  Banks,  of  Ossipee,  a  member  of  the  N.  H.  Leg- 
islature, next  addressed  the  convention  in  fiivor  of  the  route 
via  the  Ossipee  Valley,  giving  very  interesting  statistics  of 
business  along  the  line.     He  said, 

Mr.  Chairman  nnd  G^ntlemeit: 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  meet  in  Convention  so  many  of  the 
citizens  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont,  assembled  for  the 
purpose  of  considering  the  project  af  uniting  the  East  with  the  West 
by  railroad  facilities. 

Every  improvement  of  the  means  of  locomotion  benefits  mankind, 
morally,  and  intellectually,  as  well  as  materially,  and  not  only  facili- 
tates the  interchange  of  the  various  productions  of  nature  and  art,  but 
tends  to  remove  sectional  antipathies  and  bind  together  all  parts  of 
our  country. 

For  fifteen  long  years  I  have  looked  to  the  connection  of  the  Com- 
mercial Metropolis  of  Maine  with  the  Great  West  by  a  direct  line  of 
railroad  communication  through  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  as  an 
event  that  certainly  must  take  place. 

To  compete  for  and  to  secure  that  portion  of  the  business  of  the 
northern  portion  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  and  the  carrying 


33 


trade  of  the  growing  West,  which  the  unrivaled  natural  advantages  of 
Portland  should  command  and  control,  is  an  object  for  which  the  State 
of  Maine  and  the  City  of  Portland  may  well  contend. 

My  home  is  in  the  delightful  and  romantic  Ossipee  Valley,  about 
midway  between  Portland  and  Danbury,  on  the  proposed  Portland  and 
Kutland  Kailroad,  in  the  County  of  Carroll,  New  Hampshire.     The 
County  is  wholly  undeveloped  by  railroad  facilities,  it  has  more  wealth 
in  timber  lumber,  wood,  and  bark,  than  any  other  County  in  the  State. 
These  important  and  valuable  articles  canndt  now  find  their  way  to 
market  on  account  of  the  high  cost  of  transportation.    By  adopting 
the  Ossipee  Valley  route,  you  will  open  a  thoroughfare  on  a  route  re- 
mote from  competing  lines  leading  to  Boston,  and  afford  facilities  for 
business,  and  a  ready  and  cheap  access  to  market  to  an  extensive  and 
important  part  of  not  only  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  but  the  Coun- 
ties of  York  and  Oxford,  Maine.    Portland  will  not  only  acquire  addi- 
tional facilities  for  business,  but  the  inhabitants  of  Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Vermont  will  be  much  more  benefited  than  by  any  other  '■ 
route.    Another  argument  in  favor  of  this  route,  is  the  comparatively 
light  expense  of  constructing  the  road.    In  all  New  England  there  can- 
not be  found  a  route  so  easy  to  build.    More  than  three-quarters  of  the 
distance  the  road  would  traverse  is  Pine  Plains.    By  this  route,  the 
shrill  scream  of  the  steam  whistle  will  almost  enliven  the  recesses  of 
Mount  Washington  range  of  mountains,  where  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand  persons  annually  go  to  elijoy  the  solitary  granduer  of  those 
great  barriers  of  nature,  and  the  interest  in  which  increases  from  year 
to  year,  and  will  continue  to  so  long  as  a  sense  for  the  beautiful  remains 
in  the  human  h^rt.    And,  with  your  permission,  I  will  give  you  a  few 
facts  and  statistics  respecting  the  business  and  resources  of  a  few 
towns  in  New  Hampshire,  adjacent  to  and  through  which  the  proposed 
road  will  pass : 

Ossipee,  on  line  of  Road. 

Tonnage  for  the  year  1867, 1,500 ;  estimate  of  Timber,  376,460,000  feet ; ' 
estimate  of  wood,  400,000  cords ;  estimate  of  bark,  25,000  cords ;  Pas- 
sengers, 3,500. 

Sandwich,  on  line  of  Road. 

Tonnage,  1867, 1,008  tons;  estimate  of  Timber,  200,000,000  feet ;  esti- 
mate of  wood,  1,000,000  cords ;  estimate  of  Bark,  50,000  cords ;  Passen- 
gers, 3,000. 

Freedom,  on  line  of  Road. 

Tonnage,  1867,  200  tons ;  estimate  of  Timber,  100,000,000  feet ;  esti- 
mate of  Wood,  51,000  cords ;  Passengers,  3,000. 

3 


34 


Effingham,  on  line  of  Road. 

Tonnage,  1867,  200  tons ;  estimate  of  Timber,  100,000,000  feet ;  esti- 
mate of  Wood ;  50,000  cords ;  Passengers,  2,500. 

Madison,  four  miles  from  Road. 

Tonnage,  1867, 175  tons;  estimate  of  Timber,  50,000,000  feet ;  estimate 
of  Wood,  50,000  cords;  estimate  of  Bark,  20,000  cards;  Passengers, 
2,000. 

Boston,  five  miles  from  road. 

Tonnage,  150  tons;  estiiAate  of  Timber,  125,000,000  feet;  estimate 
of  Wood,  50,000  cords. 

Moultonborough,  on  line  of  road. 

Estimate  of  Timber,  50,000,000  feet ;  estimate  of  Wood,  50,000  cords ; 
tonnage,  500  tons ;  Passengers,  2000. 

Conway,  thirteen  miles  from  road.. 

Tonnage,  1867,1600  tons;  Passengers,  22,000;  estimate  of  timber, 
600,000,000  feet  As  for  the  article  of  Wood  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
estimating  on  it.  Best  judges  say  no  one  engine  can  take  it  away  as 
fast  as  it  will  grow.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  heavy  gix)wth. 
Bark,  1,500,000  cords. 

Jackson  and  Bartlett. 

Estimate  of  Timber,  300,000,000  feet;  Passengers,  5000;  Tonnage, 
1867,  200  tons. 

Fryeburg  and  Rrownfield,  Me. 

Tonnage,  1867,  3000  tons ;  estimate  of  Timber,  [300,000,000  feet ;  Pas- 
sengers, 6,000, 

These  facts  were  gathered  by  myself  carefully,  and  can  be  relied  upon. 
In  many  cases  I  put  down  one-half  of  the  amount  of  timber  and  wood 
estimated  by  the  citizens  of  the  several  towns. 

I  introduce  .these  statistics  simply  to  show,  that  although  Carroll 
County  has  no  railroad,  she  has  resources  sufficient  to  warrant  the  as- 
sumption that  one  will  pay  the  cost  of  building  and  running  one. 

One  word  more  and  I  am  done.  The  great  point  at  present  to  be  at- 
tained, to  render  success  to  the  enterprise  certain,  is  to  reconcile  ri- 
val interests  and  projects  to  accomplish  this  great  work.  We  must 
have  united  councils  as  well  as  efforts.  It  is  for  this  Convention  to 
take  wise  incipent  measures  to  promote  a  union  of  sentiment  to  de- 
velope  the  means  and  then  press  to  completion  the  work  in  which  you 
have  my  warmest  sympathies  and  most  ardent  hopes. 


35 


In  reply  to  a  call  from  the  chairman,  for  the  Vermont  delega- 
tion present,  JOSEPH  A.  WING,  Esq.,  of  Montpelier,  Vt.,  came 
forward  and  spoke  as  follows : — 

Mr.  Presidei^t  : 

Perhaps  I  am  not  the  proper  person  for  you  to  request  to  give  facts 
and  figures  in  relation  to  the  different  railroad  routes  from  Portland  to 
the  West.  I  am  from  Montpelier,  Vt.,  and  one  of  lier  delegates  to  your 
convention.  I  saw  in  one  of  your  city  papers  this  morning,  a  state- 
ment that  Montpelier  is  opposed  to  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg  road 
through  the  Lamoille  valley,  and  that  Montpelier  is  not  the  place  to 
ascertain  the  facts  in  relation  to  said  road.  This  is  a  mistake.  Mont- 
pelier wants  a  road  to  Wells  River,  and  thence  to  Portland.  The  town 
of  Montpelier  has  sent  to  your  city,  her  delegation,  to  convince  you,  if 
possible,  that  she  has,  by  way  of  Wells  River,  the  shortest  route  with 
the  least  curves  and  best  grades,  and  the  least  amount  of  road  to  be 
built,  of  any  route  from  Portland  West. 

I  will  state  a  fact  that  will  show  the  feelings  of  Montpelier  to  both 
the  other  routes. 

At  the  October  session  of  the  legislature  in  Vermont,  in  1867,  the 
Lamoille  valley  road,  the  Woodstock  road,  and  the  Montpelier  and 
Wells  River  road,  all  asked  for  enabling  acts  to  allow  towns  to  aid  these 
several  roads.  The  friends  of  the  Montpelier  route  voted  and  worked 
with  all  their  energy  for  the  other  two  roads,  and  the  acts  were  pass- 
ed, but  the  Montpelier  act  lacked  four  votes  of  its  pg^sage. 

We  then,  in  good  faith,  extended  to  both  routes  our  helping  hand, 
and  we  are  not  now  opposing  either  of  these  routes,  unless  offering  to 
you  a  far  better  route  is  opposition. 

The  object  of  Portland  in  seeking  a  western  connection,  I  suppose, 
is  to  bring  business  to  your  city.  This  is  the  object;  but  the  question 
is,  how  can  you  do  it?  The  answer  is  easy.  You  must  make  it  for  the 
interest  of  the  West  to  seek  your  city  as  a  place  to  dispose  of  their 
grain  and  other  produce,  and  to  buy  your  goods  for  consumption  at 
home. 

The  Yankee  is  a  curious  creature;  he  has  no  love  for  one  place  over 
another.  His  whole  soul  is  bent  on  dollars  and  cents  in  the  way  of 
trade.  He  will  go  to  that  place  to  trade  where  he  can  sell  his  goods 
the  highest  and  buy  the  cheapest.  In  calculating  the  cost,  he  will  in- 
clude his  freight  bills,  time  and  hotel  bills.  These  all  go  in  to  make  up 
the  cost  of  goods.  If  he  can  buy  his  sugar  a  half  cent  cheaper  in  Port- 
land than  Boston,  he  will  buy  in  Portland.  If  he  can  sell  his  grain 
one  cent  per  bushel  higher  in  Boston  than  Portland,  he  will  sell  his 
grain  in  Boston  and  buy  where  he  can  buy  cheapest. 


36 


This  trait  in  the  Yankee  chai'acter  is  properly  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote : 

At  one  time,  in  one  of  the  West  India  Islands,  there  was  a  sickness 
that  was  contagious,  that  caused  great  distress  in  the  Island,  and  they 
needed  relief.  They  called  a  meeting  for  consultation ;  a  large  num- 
ber were  opposed  to  letting  the  world  know  their  distress  for  fear  no 
one  would  dare  to  come  there  to  ti-ade. 

One  old  man  remarked  that  he  was  for  letting  the  world  know  their 
distress,  and  also  let  them  know  that  they  would  sell  them  coffee  one 
cent  per  pound  less  in  consequence  of  it.    lie  said  hang  up  a  bag  of 

coffee  in  H and  make  it  one  cent  per  pound  under  its  market 

value,  and  all  the  Yankees  would  instantly  make  a  rush  foait. 

Your  beautiful  and  enterprising  city,  that  has  just  risen  like  the  fa- 
bled Phoenix  from  its  own  ashes,  with  more  life,  energy,  and  beauty 
than  before,  has  the  advantage  over  all  other  cities  in  New  England  or 
New  York,  for  the  ti-ade  of  the  great  and  rapidly  growing  West. 

You  have  one  of  the  best  harbors  in  the  world.  Tlie  great  ocean 
highway  from  New  York  and  Boston  to  Europe,  passes  directly  by  your 
port.  You  have  no  Hell  gate  to  pass  through  like  New  York.  You 
save  ten  hours' steam  navigation  from  Boston  and  the  dangers  of  the 
coast.  And  you  are  fifty  miles  by  rail  nearer  Ogdensburg  when  certain 
connecting  links  shall  be  built,  than  is  Boston. 

The  great  point  for  freight  on  the  lakes,  must  be  Ogden.sburg.  The 
Northern  Transpoi-tation  Co.  have  now  fifteen  boats  running  between 
Ogdensburg  and  the  western  cities,  and  are  to  add  ten  more  this  season, 
and  double  that  ^ount  next  year.  During  the  season  of  navigation, 
this  must  be  the  gi-eat  point  for  freight,  and  her  elevators  will  be  con- 
structed to  hold  enough  to  keep  the  cars  i*unning  while  navigation  is 
closed. 

Ogdensburg  is  equidistant  from  Boston  and  New  York,  in  an  air  line, 
but  it  is  twenty-five  miles  less  to  Portland.  St.  Albans,  Vt,  to  Port- 
land in  an  air  line.  Is  not  so  ftir  by  fifty  miles  as  it  is  to  Boston. 

You  have  now  two  ways  of  reaching  the  West.  The  first  is  the  Grand 
Trunk  road,  reaching  Prescott,  opposite  Ogdensburg,  by  a  distance  of 
406  miles.  This  does  not  carry  the  freight  l^jought  down  by  the  Nor- 
thern Transportation  Company.  They  are  rival  lines.  I  learn  that 
you  are  now  receiving  cargoes  of  freight  from  Chicago,  by  way  of  the 
lakes,  Manchester  and  New  Market  Junction,  a  distance  of  434  miles— 
twenty-eight  miles  further  than  by  the  Grand  Trunk  r6ad. 

You  are  not  satisfied  with  these  roads.  You  want  to  reach  two  ports 
west — Ogdensburg  and  Buffalo;  Ogdensburg  for  freight,  Buffalo  for 
passengers.  And  you  want  the  shortest  and  best  rbutes  to  those 
places. 

Your  object  should  be  the  best  route,  regardless  of  the  wishes  of 


37 


private  individuals.  It  is  hard  to  force  vrater  up  hill  or  freight  over 
high  summits,  when  it  is  nearer  to  run  through  the  valleys. 

If  there  are  parallel  lines,  on  a  straight  route  with  light  grades  and 
easy  curves — the  other  high  grades  and  short  curves,  the  low  grade 
road  has  the  advantage  over  the  other. 

The  Vermont  Central  shows  the  folly  of  building  roads  for  the  per- 
sonal interest  of  private  individuals. 

The  late  Gov.  Paine,  of  Vermont,  resided  in  Northfield,  and  he  w^ant- 
ed  the  road  built  through  Northfield,  while  there  were  many  who 
wanted  it  through  Barre.  To  the  east  the  grade  was  much  higher 
through  Northfield,  than  through  Barre,  and  the  road  five  or  six  miles 
longer,  like  the  Notch  road,  compared  with  the  Ossipee  valley,  but  not 
one  third  as  much  difference  as  m  between  the  Notch  and  Ossipee 
routes.  But  Gov.  Paine  had  personal  influence  sufficient  to  carry  it  as 
others  now  are  trying  to  carry  the  Notch  route.  Gov.  Paine  carried  it 
by  the  engineers  making  gi-eat  mistakes  in  the  distance  and  grades, 
which  are  now  fully  admitted  by  the  managers  of  the  road.  This  build- 
ing through  Northfleld  cost  the  road  about  $1,000,000  more  than  through 
Barre,  and  it  costs  its  thousands  every  year  more  to  run  it  on  account 
of  the  grades  and  exti-a  distance. 

We  also  got  the  road  laid  into  Burlington  in  the  wrong  place,  against 
the  will  of  the  chief  engineer,  at  the  cost  of  half  a  million,  and  after 
running  it  a  few  years,  at  great  expense,  they  tore  up  the  track  and 
built  it  where  it  should  have  been  built  in  the  first  place. 

They  now  have  to  divide  their  trains  and  send  extra  engines  to  get 
to  the  summit  above  Northfield.  .They  would  now  save  money  to  tear 
up  the  track  and  build  forty  miles  of  road  through  Barre,  than  to  run 
on  the  present  route.  Every  additional  mile  of  road  adds  more  to  the 
exp'ense  of  the  road  than  many  suppose. 

Suppose  you  run  twenty  trains  each  way,  daily,  (and  I  think  the 
Vermont  Central  runs  more  than  that  number,)  and  the  saving  on  the 
Central  of  six  miles  would  be  240  miles  or  one  train  saved  daily  or 
more  than  one  train  from  Montpelier  to  Boston  —  calling  313  days  to 
the  year,  it  would  save  75,120  miles,  or  more  than  one  train  three  times 
round  the  world. 

The  citizens  of  Portland  should  take  warning  from  the  Vermont 
Central  road. 

We  have  not  come  here  to  oppose  any  road.  We  have  come  to  pre- 
sent the  merits  of  our  route,  and  to  convince  you,  if  possible,  that  we 
have  the  shortest  route,  the  least  curves,  and  the  lowest  grades.  To 
do  this  we  must  compare  it  with  the  other  routes,  that  you  may  judge 
its  merits.    If  this  is  opposing  other  roads,  then  we  are  opposing  them. 

I  will  give  you  the  distances  by  the  different  routes  as  I  understand 
them.  Where  I  have  been  able  to  get  the  true  data,  I  have  done  so ; 
where  not,  it  is  from  my  best  information. 


88 


I  will  give  you  the  distances  from  Portland  to  Swanton,  Vt.,  where 
the  different  roads  will  connect  as  I  understand  them.  I  give  the  data 
so  you  can  correct  any  portion  that  may  be  erroneous. 

MILES. 

Portland  to  Rochester,  (20  miles  to  be  built,)        -        -        -        -         48 
Rochester  to  Alton  Bay,  (built,)         -------18 

Alton  Bay  to  the  Weirs,  (to  be  built,) *   16 

Weirs  to  Wells  River,  (built,) -        -     60 

Wells  River  to  Montpelier,  (to  be  built,)        -----         38 
Montpelier  to  Swanton,  (built,)   --------66 

Total,-        -        -^       -        .        -        -        -       -        246 
Seventy-four  miles  to  be  built. 

OSSIPEE  ROUTE. 

MILES. 

Swanton  to  Wells  River, 104 

Wells  River  to  Fogg's  Station,  -       - 52 

Fogg's  to  Portland, 65 

Total, 221 

About  100  miles  to  be  built  on  this  route. 

The  friends  of  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg  route  claim  tlie  distan- 
ces as  follows : — 

MILES. 

Swanton  to  West  Danville,      --------         Tl 

West  Danville  to  St  Johnsbury,         -------17 

St.  Johnsbury  to  Dalton, --.20 

Dalton  to  the  Notch,    ----------     24 

'Notch  to  Portland, 84 

Total, 222 

Being  one  mile  farther  than  the  Ossipee  route  if  it  is  sixty-five  miles 
only  through  the  valley. 

But  I  claim  when  the  line  is  surveyed  the"  distance  will  exceed  the 
following: — 

MILES. 

Swanton  to  West  Danville,     --------         85 

West  Danville  to  St.  Johnsbury,         -------18 

St.  Johnsbury  to  Dalton, 24 

Dalton  to  the  Notch, 30 

Notch  to  Portland, 90 

Total, 247 


39 


I  think  the  Notch  route  has  no  advantage  over  the  Lake  Shore  road 
in  distance,  but  the  Ossipee  route  has  a  great  advantage  in  distance 
over  all  others. 

The  distance  from  Swanton  to  Wells  Kiver,  and  from  Swanton  to  St . 
Johnsbury,  are  about  equal,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  and  a  glance  at 
the  map  will  show  you  that  in  an  air  line,  Wells  River  is  at  least  ten 
miles  nearer  Portland  than  is  St.  Johnsbury.  Try  it  by  taking  any  map 
of  the  United  SttJtes,  and  setting  one  point  of  your  dividers  at  Port- 
land, and  the  other  at  Wells  River,  then  turn  it  towards  St.  Johnsbury, 
and  it  will  not  reach  it  by  more  than  ten  miles.  Therefore,  unless  the 
Ossipee  is  more  circuitous  than  the  Mountain  road,  the  Ossipee  route 
is  the  shortest  by  at  least  ten  miles,  and  I  think  more  than  twenty. 

But  suppose  you  go  through  the  Notch,  then  it  is  better  to  go  by  way 
of  Montpelier  than  St.  Johnsbury. 

MILES. 

It  is  by  measure  from  Swanton  to  Wells  River,     .        .        .        .       104 

Wells  River  to  Littleton, 20 

Littleton  to  the  Notch  I  do  not  beheve  to  be  over  20  miles,  but  call    * 
it  all  they  claim,  . 24 

Total, *.        ...    148 

By  their  estimate,  it  is  from  Swanton  to  the  Notch,  138  miles,  a  gain 
of  ten  miles.  By  my  estimate,  which  I  believe  will  b'e  found  most  cor- 
rect, 157  miles,  a  loss  of  nine  miles. 

The  St.  Johnsbury  route  is  to  be  built.  The  other  route  is  all  built 
but  62  miles.  A  saving  in  building  of  at  least  76  miles,  and  a  saving  of 
rise  and  fall  of  at  least  1000  feet.  But  if  you  wish  to  go  by  the  La- 
moille valley  and  the  Notch,  it  is  by  their  estimate  from  Hardwick,  in 
the  Lamoille  valley,  to  the  Notch  81  miles,  as  follows :  61  miles  from 
the  Notch  to  West  Danville,  and  20  from  West  Danville  to  Hardwick — 
making  the  81  miles  aforesaid. 

By  my  estimate  it  is  74  miles  from  the  Notch  to  West  Danville,  and 
20  miles  by  measure  to  Hardwick ;  total  94  miles. 

By  their  estimate  it  is  44  miles  to  Wells  River  from  the  Notch,  and  23 
by  measure  to  Marshfield,  and  less  than  14  to  Hardwick.  Total  route 
extending  81  miles. 

This,  I  think,  is  too  long  by  at  least  five  miles.  Twenty  miles  of  this 
road  is  now  built  and  in  operation.  This  road,  I  think,  will  save  at 
least  1000  feet  in  rise  and  fall  over  the  other. 

Grades. 

The  road  from  Swanton  to  Montpelier  has  very  easy  grades.  The 
capitol  at  Montpelier,  by  Hall's  history  of  Vermont,  taken  from  the  ge- 
ological survey,  is  540  feet  above  the  ocean.    The  capitol  is  about  50 


40 


feet  above  the  railroad,  leaving  the  railroad  track  about  490  above  the 
ocean.  The  rise  from  Montpelier  to  the  summit  by  the  survey,  is  868 
making  the  summit  by  this  estimate  1348  feet  in  19  63-100  miles,  with 
no  grade  higher  than  one  foot  in  one  hundred. 

By  the  same  history,  the  Connecticut  River  at  Newbury,  four  miles 
below  Wells  River,  is  420  feet.  At  Mclndoe's  Falls,  eight  miles  above 
Wells  River,  it  is  440  feet.  Divide  this  and  Wells  River  is  430  feet  above 
the  ocean. 

The  rise  from  Wells  River  to  the  summit,  by  the  survey,  is  910  feet, 
which  added  to  the  430  feet,  would  make  the  summit  1,.340  feet,  a  va- 
riance of  only  eight  feet.  This  end  of  the  route  is  18  62-100  miles,  with 
no  grade  of  over  60  feet  per  mile. 

In  1850,  this  route  was  carefully  surveyed  by  A.  Knowles,  the  late 
chief  engineer,  on  the  Central  Road,  who  had  just  been  dismissed  from 
the  road,  because  he  would  not  lay  the  track  into  Burlington,  which  has 
since  been  torn  up.  He  worked  from  the  first  of  May  to  September, 
with  a  proper  corps  of  engineers,  and  made  a  thorough  surveywith 
*plans  and  estimates  for  the  route.  We  now  have  all  the  books,  plans, 
maps  and  reports,  except  the  report  on  th&west  end  of  the  route,  which 
has  been  lost  in  the  eighteen  years  since  the  survey. 

The  following  is^iis  report  on  the  east  half  of  the  route  distance, 

18  62-100 

Curvature. 

MILKS. 

Straight  line, 7.0007 

1  degree  radius  5,730  feet, 1.7424 

2  "  "      2,865  feet,        ........    2.7840 

3  "  "      1,910  feet,    .....'...        5.5965 

4  "  «      1,432  feet, 1.0890 

Total, 18.62-100 

The  straight  line,  as  to  cui-ve,  is  41  to  68. 
The  4th  curve  will  run  on  light  grades. 

Grades. 

Level  grade, 0.9450 

9  feet  per  mile, 1.0000 

20    «    "        " 1.0000 

25    "    "        " 0.5203 

27J  "    "        " 0.7565 

50    "    "        "           ..........  2.8941 

60    "    "        " 11.2830 

Total, 18.3989 


41 


Excavation. 

Earth  excavation, 896,333  cubic  yards. 

Solid  rock, 16,590^.  " 

Loose  rock, 3,100     " 


SUPEKSTRUCTTJEE. 

Bridge  masonry,           .....      10,025  cubic  perch. 
Culvert  masonry,    .           .           .           .  '         .  2,669    " 

Bridging, 600  feet. 

No  bridge  required  over  thirty  feet  long  on  this  section. 

The  west  half  is  about  one  mile  longer,  but  a  trifle  more  excavation 
and  some  more  bridging.  There  will  be  one  bridge  about  100  feet  and 
one  of  60.  No  other  bridge  required  over  thirty  feet,  unless  you  change 
the  survey.  The  expense  may  be  $75,000  on  the  west  end  over  the 
other  end. 

The  road  is  all  the  way  so  high  that  there  is  no  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from  floods. 

The  road  from  West  Danville  to  Hardwick,  I  think,  cannot  pass- 
lower  than  Lyford's  pond  in  Walden,  which  the  geological  survey  says 
is  1692  feet  above  the  ocean.  ♦ 

That  pond  is  344  feet  above  the  summit,  on  the  Wells  river  route, 
calculating  from  Montpelier ;  and  352,  calculating  from  W^ells  river. 

TliTere  is  a  high  summit  in  Concord,  between  St.  Johnsbury  and  Dal- 
ton.  I  cannot  ascertain  the  height.  I  learn  they  follow  up  Moose 
river  nine  miles,  then  cross  it  and  pass  over  the  summit.  I  think  this 
cannot  be  less  than  600  feet,  and  may  be  1000  or  more  high.  Call  it  600 
feet,  arid  you  have  about  950  feet  more  rise  to  draw  up  your  loads  go- 
ing east,  than  if  you  go  by  Wells  river. 

But  it  is  claimed  that  the  fall  in  the  Connecticut,  from  D^lton  to 
Wells  river,  is  at  least,  600  feet.  Therefore,  if  you  have  to  draw  your 
freight  up  600  feet  from  St.  Johnsbury  to  get  on  to  Concord  summit, 
you  do  not  fall  but  little  to  the  Connecticut,  and  it  helps  to  reach  the 
Notch.    This  may  be  true  in  part,  but  not  in  the  whole. 

The  Connecticut  at  Newbury,  four  miles  below  Wells  river,  is  420  feet 
above  the  ocean,  and  the  same  river  at  Guildhall,  about  fifteen  miles 
above  Dalton,  is  only  835  feet.  How  much  of  this  415  feet  fall  is  above 
Dalton  and  below  Wells  river,  I  don't  pretend  to  know. 

The  Notch  in  New  Hampshire,  it  is  said,  is  1920  feet  above  the  ocean, 
and  the  highest  point  in  the  Ossipee  Valley  is  only  500  feet,  making  a 
difference  of  1420  feet  in  rise  and  fall. 

Making,  when  you  have  deducted  this  fall  in  the  Connecticut  from 
Dalton  to  Wells  river,  and  made  all  other  reasonable  deductions,  about 
2000  feet  more  rise  and  fall  on  the  P.  and  O.  road,,  than  the  Ossipee  or 
Lake  Shore  road. 


42 


t 


The  curves  will  be  much  worse  on  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg  road 
than  on  the  other.  The  summit  is  sojiigh  between  St.  Johnsbury  and 
Hardwick,  that  they  run,  at  least,  37  miles  to  get  about  21  by  the  trav- 
eled road.  In  one  place  in  Walden,  going  over  seven  miles  to  get  one. 
In  order  to  get  down  to  Lamoille  river,  they  turn  back  up  the  river  and 
go  up  about  three  miles,  before  they  get  low  enough  to  cross  the  stream. 
In  the  town  of  Danville,  they  go  so  crooked  that  they  run  far  enough 
to  more  than  twice  cross  the  town. 

High  grades  and  short  curves  are  very  injurious  to  the  rolling  stock, 
and  are  injurious  to  the  roads,  and  it  requires  a  great  amount  of  motive 
power  to  pass  them. 

I  found  here,  that  the  line  on  the  side  of  the  mountain,  run  by  Mr. 
Lindsley,  is  not  deemed  practical  by  other  engineers.  They  go  far)higher 
grades  in  places,  and  not  try  to  get  an  even  grade,  and  refer  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Central  road  as  an  example,  that  it  is  better  to  keep 
nearer  the  river,  and  have  high  grades  in  places,  than  to  have  the  rail- 
road high  up  on  the  side  of  the  mountain.  I  am  informed  they  reconi- 
menced  a  grade  of  not  over  sixty  feet  to  the  mile,  till  within  ten  miles 
of  the  top  of  the  mountain.  There  will  then  be  a  summit  of  1000  feet 
to  overcome  in  ten  miles.  They  then  recommend  that  the  road  shall 
be  built  with  no  grade  over  125  feet,  and  accommodate  the  grade  to  the 
ground  as  well  as  you  can. 

There  are  various  other  objections  besides  grade  to  the  road  tlyough 
the  mountains. 

1st.  If  the  road  is  made  by  excavating  into  the  side  of  the  Moun- 
tain, there  will  be  great  danger  of  removing  the  support  from  the  rocks 
above,  thus  causing  slides  in  the  spring,  when  the  frost  is  coming  out 
of  the  ground,  or  in  heavy  rains. 

2d.  The  greater  amount  of  snow  in  the  gorges  of  the  mountain  than 
in  the  valleys. 

3d.  The  road  bed  must  be  bjiilt  high,  so  that  the  water  will  run 
under  the  track ;  or  when  the  snow  melts  during  the  day,  it  will  run 
down  the  mountain  under  the  snow,  and  every  night  spew  over  the 
track,  so  as  to  render  it  nearly  impossible  to  keep  the  track  in  running 
order. 

4th.  Running  the  track  over  so  high  a  summit,  it  will  be  so  much 
colder  that  the  rails  will  be  covered  with  ice  every  rain.  Spring  and 
Fall,  so  that  it  will  make  it  difficult  to  run  the  road,  when  it  would  not 
eflfect  lower  grades  like  the  Portland  and  Rochester,  or  thjB  Ossipee 
valley. 

I  am  told  that  the  great  object  in  going  through  the  mountains  is  to 
keep  out  of  the  net  work  of  Boston  railroads.  This  is  as  idle  as  it? 
would  be  to  build  a  wall  on  the  south  side  of  the  line  to  keep  the  Bos- 
ton roads  from  crossing  their  track  at  any  point.    They  cannot  keep 


43 


away  from  the  Boston  roads.  By  the  time  you  reach  Conway,  if  it  is 
any  object,  the  Great  Falls  and  Conway  road  will  be  there  to  meet  you. 
Before  you  reach  Whitefield  the  White  Mountain  road  will  be  across 
your  track  to  compete  with  you  for  the  lumber  of  that  region.  The 
Passumpsic  is  already  across  your  track  at  St.  Johnsbury,  and  before 
you  reach  the  Lamoille  valley,  by  St.  Johnsbury,  the  Boston,  Concord 
and  Montreal  road  will  meet  you  in  the  valley  at  Hardwick,  and  be 
ready  to  take  the  freight  over  a  lower  summit  either  to  Boston  or  to 
Portland ;  and  when  you  reach  Swanton  or  Georgia,  you  are  on  the 
Vermont  and  Canada,  a  Boston  road,  and  must  pass  the  whole  length 
of  the  Ogdensburg  road  to  Ogdensburg,  which  is  apother  Boston  road. 
You  canot  get  out  of  the  Boston  net  work.  You  may  for  a  time,  while 
you  are  in  the  mountains,  but  when  you  reach  any  business  place  you 
must  come  -into  the  net.  Your  only  way  to  get  business  is  to  make  it 
for  their  interest  to  come  here,  and  not  by  trying  to  compel  them  to 
come. 

Which  road  will  furnish  the  most  local  freight  and  business  to  Port- 
land ?  Will  the  barren  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire  furnish  more 
business  than  the  valley  of  the  Ossipee,  filled  with  its  water  power,  or 
the  Portland  and  Rochester  road  ?  This  is  a  matter  for  you  to  investi- 
gate. 

It  will  require  a  vast  amount  of  power  to  run  a  freight  train  over  the 
summits  in  Walden,  Concord  and  the  White  Mountains. 

It  is  my  belief  that  the  same  power  at  least  will  be  required  to  move 
200  tons  over  the  St.  Johnsbury  road  to  Portland,  from  Swanton,  that 
would  move  300  tons  between  the  same  places  by  Montpelier;  and  the 
injury  to  the  rolling  stock  and  wear  of  the  rails  would  be  double  on 
the  first  to  what  it  would  be  on  the  last  named  route. 

But  it  is  said  that  Vermont  will  build  the  P.  &  O.  road  through  the. 
State — that  she  will  raise  forty  per  cent  of  the  stock  and  bond  for  the 
rest. 

If  the  P.  &  O.  road  runs  to  Swanton,  the  road  in  Vermont  is  a  piece 
of  patch  work,  consisting  of  four  independent  charters.  The  first  is  a 
charter  of  the  Essex  Railroad  Company,  extending  from  St.  Johnsbury 
to  the  Connecticut  River.  My  impression  is,  the  votes  of  the  town  for 
this  road  are  half  stock  and  half  bonds.  Then  comes  the  Montpelier 
and  St.  Johnsbury.  On  this,  St.  Johnsbury  and  Danville  have  voted 
aid.  I  think  one  half  stock  and  the  other  bonds.  These  two  roads  are 
organized.  Then  comes  the  Lamoille  valley  road  that  covers  the  same 
track  as  the  Montpelier  and  St.  Johnsbury  road  to  West  Danville,  17  or 
18  miles.  I  do  not  learn  that  this  last  road  has  been  organized,  and  I 
have  not  learned  that  Danville  or  St.  Johnsbury  have  voted  any  aid  for 
the  Lamoille  road.  They  must  therefore  go  as  far  as  West  Danville  on 
the  Montpelier  and  St.  Johnsbury  charter,  or  abandon  the  subscription 
they  now  have. 


44 


Tlie  Lamoille  valley  road  is  chartered  to  go  down  the  Lamoille  val- 
ley. It  cannot  turn  off  to  Swanton.  The  charter  gives  them  no  pow- 
er to  leave  the  Lamoille  valley.  If  they  go  to  Swanton,  they  must  go 
on  the  Missisquoi  Railroad  charter.  That  they  have  the  right  to  do, 
but  that  road  must  first  be  organized ;  they  must  raise  at  least  $100,000 
to  organize.  The  towns  on  this]routs  have  no  power  to  vote  aid  to  this 
road.  If  Shelden,  Highgate  or  Swanton  vote  aid  to  the  Lamoille  val- 
ley road,  it  must  be  expended  in  the  Lamoille  valley.  They  cannot 
use  it  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  or  building  in  the  Missisquoi  val- 
ley. 

The  charter  of  the  Missisquoi  road  allows  them  to  inin  from  Berk- 
shire to  the  Lamoille  valley,  but  the  towns  cannot  vote  aid  to  this  road. 
You  have  therefpre  four  separate  and  distinct  charters  on  the  route, 
with  different  rights  and  privileges.  The  towns  of  Swantqn  and  High- 
gate  may  vote  to  aid  the  Lamoille  road,  and  then  raise  money  and  build 
their  own. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  charter  of  the  Lamoille  valley  road  author- 
izes them  to  consolidate  with  any  other  road.  This  may  be  true,  but  I 
think  there  is  no  law  authorizing  the  Missisquoi,  or  the  Essex  or  the 
Montpelier  ami  St.  Johnsbury  route  to  consolidate  with  any  other 
road.  Therefore  they  must  act  as  four  independent  corporations  until 
after  the  next  session  of  the  legislature,  unless  the  M6ntpeher  and  St. 
Johnsbury  corporation  abandons  its  charter  and  goes  into  the  La- 
moille valley  corporation,  in  which  case  they  will  have  to  trust  to  a 
new  subscription.  That  would  leave  three  corporations  with  no  right 
of  consolidation. 

It  is  said  that  the  Lamoille  valley  is  one  of  the  richest  valleys'  in  the 
State.  There  is  some  good  land  in  this  valley,  and  many  good  water 
privileges.  In  point  of  wealth  it  is  not.on  an  average  ^vith  the  other 
valleys  in  the  State. 

You  test  the  riches  of  a  town  by  its  grand  list  But  other  things 
than  nxoney  make  up  the  grand  list  of  Vermont  The  real  estate  is 
appraised  at  its  just  value  in  money,  and  is  placed  in  the  list  at  one 
per  cent.  The  personal  estate  consists  of  money,  bank  stock,  debts, 
cattle,  horses,  &c.,  from  which  the  debts  owing  are  deducted  and  the 
balance  goes  into  the  list  at  one  per  cent. 

Each  poll  goes  in  at  $2.00,  equal  to  $200  of  money,  and  each  dog  $1.00, 
equal  to  $100.  The  whole  grand  list  of  Lamoille  County  is  made  up  as 
follows : — 

Polls  2,952, $5,904  00 

Dogs  478, 478  00 

Personal  Estate,  $575,011—1  per  cent,    ....  5,750  11 

Real  Estate,  $2,319,771—1  per  cent,  ....  23,197  71 

Total, $35,329  82 


45 


From  .this  you  must  deduct  Stowe,  wliich  is  as  near  the  Central  as 
Lamoille,  and  nothing  is  expected  from  it. 

Polls  510, $1,020  00 

Dogs  75,  . 

Personal  Estate,  $92,874,    . 

Real  Estate,  $505,475,  ..... 
Deduct  Cambridge,  wliich  voted  more  than  two  to  one  not 
to  aid. 

Polls  397, •    . 

Dogs  86,  .  .  .  ... 

Personal  Property,  $161,090,         ..... 

Real  Estate,  $402,129, 


Balance,         .......  .f21,7S9  14 

That  is  such  spunky  Lamoille  has  after  deducting  8to\ve  and  Cam- 
bridge to  build  this  road. 

2,045  Polls, 
317  Dogs, 
$3,210.47  Personal  Estate, 
14,120.67 


75  00 

928  74 

5,054  75 

$794  00 

86  00 

1,610  90 

4,021  29 

$13,590  68 

$1,733,454 
Now  compare  the  county  with  the  town  of  Rutland. 

1686  polls  at  $2,        .            .            .            .            .            .            .  8,866  00 

278  days, ' .            .  278  00 

$2,111,246  real  estate, 21,112  46 

795,759  personal  estate,           .....  7,957  58 

Total, $33,714  04 

Even  Montpelier,  with  only  4419  acres  of  land,  has  personal  property 
to  the  amount  of  $465,209,  being  $144,159  more  than  the  personal  prop- 
erty in  Lamoille  county,  deducting  the  two  towns  aforesaid. 

I  think  it  cannot  be  less  than  110  miles  from  Dalton  to  Georgia,  which 
at  $40,000  per  mile,  will  be  $4,400,000.    This  is  less  than  Vermont  roads 
have  cost,  when  labor  and  material  was  about  one-half  what  they  now 
are.    The  appraised  value  of  all  the  personal  and  real  estate  in  all  the 
towns,  touched  by  the  road  from  Dalton  to  Georgia,  is  as  follows : 
Real  estate  .  ...  .  .  .  .    $4,860  318 

Personal  estate,  .......  1,494,620 


Total,  .......    $6,354,938 

Deduct  cost  of  road,    .  .  .  .  .      ♦     .  4,400,000 


Balance, $1,054,938 

I 


46 


Taking  more  than  two-thirds  the  property  to  build  the  road.  But 
suppose  you  go  to  Swanton,  then  you  add  about  twenty  miles  to  the 
length  of  the  road  to  be  built.    This  would  cost  $800,000,  making 

$5,200,000 
And  the  110  miles  in  New  Hampshire  at  the  sum,      .  .      4,400,000 

Total, $9,600,000 

The  towns  east  of  Walden  are  more  wealthy  than  spunky  Lamoille. 
But  even  St.  Johnsbury,  with  the  vast  riches  of  the  Fairbanks,  has  not 
so  much  wealth  as  the  old  town  of  Montpelier,  now  comprising  Mont- 
pelier  and  East  Montpelier. 

Montpelier  and  East  Montpelier,  real  estate,       .  $1,116,604 

Personal  estate,      .....  569,498 

Total, $1,680,102 

St.  Johnsbury,  real  estate,  ....  $924,982 

Personal,           ......  539,451 

Total,  .  .  .  .  .     .       $1,464,433 


In  favor  of  Montpelier,  ....  $221,669 

The  distance  from  West  Danville  to  Georgia,  is  about  65  miles.    The 
population  of  the  towns  touched  by  the  road,  was  in  1860, 14,549. 

Real  est-vte  in  1867, $2,864,048 

Personal,  .......  706,785 


$3,570;833 
Cost  of  road  at  $40,000  per  mile,  ....      2,600,000 


$970,883 
Being  personal  property  per  mile,  ....  10,873 

Real  "  "        "        .  .  .  .  44,092 


Total, $54,965 

If  the  towns  should  vote  twelve  per  cent  on  the  value  of  the  per- 
sonal and  real  estate  and  $24  on  each  poll,  and  $12  on  each  dog,  it  will 
require  a  tax  of  nearly  a  dollar  on  each  dog,  and  two  dollars  on  each 
poll  yearly  to  pay  the  interest. 

If  you  leave  the  Lamoille  and  go  to  Swanton,  you  lose  Cambridge, 
Fletcher,  Fairfax  and  Georgia. 
With  real  estate,     .......    $1,276,104 

Personal,  .......  :335,296 

Total, $1,611,400 

You  gain  Fairfax,  Sheldon,  Highgate  and  Swanton. 

Real  estate, $1,645,110 

Personal,            .......  273,861 


Total, $1,918,971 


47 


A  gain  of  i;eal  estate,  .  :  .  .  .  .  369,006 

A  loss  of  personal,  ......  61,433 

Net  gain,  .  .  .  .  .  .  $307,571 

With  twenty  miles  more  road  to  build. 

They  can  get  but  little  help  of  the  towns  off  the  line  of  the  road.  If 
it  goes  to  Georgia,  they  will  not  get  anything  from  Swanton,  etc.,  and 
vice  versa. 

WELLS  RIVER  ROUTE. 

The  distance  from  Montpelier  to  Wells  river,  is  38  miles. 

Property  in  the  towns  of  Montpelier,  Berlin,  East  Montpelier,  Plain- 
field,  Northfield,  Grotan,   Ryegate  and  Newbury. 

Real  estate,              .            .            ,    ,       .            •      «     .  .    $2,920,729 

Personal, 1,225,799 


Total, $4,046,572 

Personal  per  mile,        .  .  .  .  .  .  $29,621 

Real  estate  per  mile,         ......  76,861 


Total,  .......       $106,482 

Add  towns  in  the  valley  of  the  Winooski,  west  of  Montpelier,  through 
which  the  Central  road  runs  to  Burlington,  40  miles. 

Real  estate, •  .    $3,452,900 

Personal, .      1,844,.392 


$5,295,292 
Total  for  the  Winooski  Valley,  78  miles,  38  to  be  built,  .  9,341,862 
Lamoille  and  St.  Johusbury,  110  miles,        .  .  .  6,354,938 

Nearly  3,000,000,  the  most  in  the  Winooski  Valley,  with  only  38  miles 
to  build. 

I  have  thus  far  advocated  the  advantages  of  the  Ossipee  and  Lake 
Shore  roads  over  the  P.  &  O.  road,  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  Ogdens- 
burg,  but  there  are  other  interests  of  importance  to  state. 

The  road  from  Halifax  to  Portland  will  soon  be  completed.  Also  the 
Pacific  railroad ;  and  when  that  is  done,  the  mail  and  express  business 
between  Europe  and  China,  will  pass  across  the  continent,  and  will  go 
where  it  will  go  the  quickest. 

Draw  a  line  from  Portland  to  Buffalo.  It  will  very  nearly  strike  Rut- 
land. If  you  pass  through  the  Ossipee  Valley,  you  will  be  nearly  on 
the  line,  while  if  you  go  on  the  P.  &  O.  route,  at  Rouse's  Point,  you 
will  be  more  than  100  miles  north  of  it.  One  glance  at  the  map  will 
satisfy  you  the  Rutland  loute  is  much  the  shortest. 


48 


I  think  the  following  are  very  correct  estimates  of  the  distances  on 
the  two  routes  : 

MILES. 

From  Rutland  to  Dalton,  .  .  .  .  .  .110 

Dalton  to  Swanton,  ......  125 

Swantbn  to  Rouse's  Point.        ......        14 

Rouse's  Point  to  Potsdam  Junction,         ....  93 

Potsdam  Junction  to  Watertown,        .  .  .  .  .76 

Watertown  to  Centerville,    ......  32 

Ceuterville  to  Oswego,    .......        30 

Oswego  to  Rochester,  ......  75 

Rochester  to  Buifalo,      .......       69 

Total, 624 

Portland  to  Buffalo  by  Rutland. 
Portland  to  Danbury,      .......        87 

Danbury  to  Rutland,  ......  81 

Rutland  to  Saratoga,      .......        63 

Saratoga  to  Schenectady,    ......  22 

Schenectady  to  Buffalo,  .  .  .  .  .  .281 

Total, 534 

Difference,  90  miles. 

This  difference  in  length,  with  the  difference  in  grades,  will  save  a 
vast  amount  of  motive  power  in  operating  the  road. 

When  the  road  is  completed  from  Halifax  to  Portland,  and  from 
Portland  to  the  Pacific,  as  the  cars  run  twice  the  speed  of  the  boats 
the  mails  and  express  between  Europe  and  China,  etc.,  and  fast  passen- 
gers will  leave  the  boats  at  Halifax,  and  before  the  boat  reaches  Port- 
land, the  mail,  etc.,  will  be  far  past  Vermont  Now,  if  both  the  P.  &  O. 
and  the  Portland  &  Rutland  roads  were  built,  which  would  they  take  ? 
Would  they  take  the  straiglit  road  with  low  grades,  or  would  they  go 
100  miles  further,  over  high  mountains,  to  keep  away  from  Boston  rail- 
roads ?  The  emigrants  and  freight  would  be  landed  at  Portland,  and 
follow  the  route  taken  by  the  mail. 

But  it  is  said  by  some,  that  Ogdensburg  cannot  rival  Montreal  for 
freights  from  the  West  to  Portland. 

The  distance  from  Prescott^  opposite  Ogdensburg,  to  Monti-eal,  is 
113  miles.  Portland  to  Montreal,  by  the  Grand  Trunk,  293  miles.  Port- 
land to  Ogdensburg,  by  Montpelier,  is  as  follows : — 

MILES. 

Portland  to  Fogg's  Station,        . 66 

Fogg's  to  Montpelier, 90 

Montpelier  to  Ogdensburg, 200 


355 


49 


Sixty-two  miles  further  than  to  Montreal  by  the  Grand  Trunk,  and  a 
saving  of  51  miles  over  the  Grand  Trunk  to  Ogdensburg. 

If  Monti^eal  is  your  freight  depot  for  Portland,  then  by  the  Grand 

Trunk  it  is  from  Portland  to  Montreal, 293 

Portland  to  Montpelier, 155 

Montpelier  to  St.  Albans, .57 

St.  Albans  to  Montreal, 65 277 

A  saving  of  16  miles. 

What  advantage  will  that  give  the  Grand  Trunk  over  the  Ossipee 
route  ? 

By  building  the  Ossipee  route  you  build  a  trunk  line  that  will  be  the 
shortest  and  best  for  every  port  West.  The  building  of  this  line  gives 
you  all  the  advantages  of  the  several  lines.  At  the  junction  with  the 
B.  C.  &  M.  road,  you  turn  slightly  to, the  South  to  Rutland  and  the  New 
York  Central,  you  reach  Buffalo  by  the  shortest  and  easiest  route. 
Following  the  B.  C.  &  M.  road  to  Wells  River,  thence  to  Montpelier 
and  Ogdensburg  and  Montreal.  If  you  wish  to  pass  through  the  La- 
^moille  valley,  you  can  at  Marshfield  turn  a  little  North,  and  pass 
through  that  valley  on  a  shorter  route  than  by  the  P.  &  O  road.  Then 
you  have  not  half  the  road  to  build  on  this  route  that  you  have  on  the 
P.  &  O.  road.  You  will  gain  nearly  all  these  advantages  by  complet- 
ing the  Portland  and  Rochester  road.  The  distance  is  about  15  miles 
greater  by  this  route,  and  the  cost  to  Portland  much  less.  Either  of 
these  roads  will  satisfy  Montpelier,  and  they  will  be  satisfied  with  any 
action  of  Portland  in  the  matter. 

Should  you  build  the  P.  &  O.  and  P.  &  R.,  could  the  first  named  road 
compete  with  a  road  through  the  Ossipee,  by  Montpelier,  either  for  the 
Ogdensburg  or  Montreal  market  ? 

If  you  build  only  the  Notch  routp,  the  man  who  is  traveling  for 
pleasure  to  view  your  mountain  scenery,  would  admire  the  courage 
and  skill  of  your  engineers  in  building  a  road  through  the  wild  gorges 
of  the  mountains  and  over  the  lofty  summits  of  Walden,  Concord  and 
the  White  Mountains.  But  the  man  of  Business,  with  his  cars  loaded 
with  the  products  of  the  West,  thinking  only  of  dollars  and  cents,  will, 
while  listening  to  the  panting  and  groaning  of  the  engine,  as  it  crawls 
up  the  mountain  side,  wonder  what  made  your  people  leave  the  beau- 
tiful valley,  with  its  easy  grades  and  gentle  curves,  and  go  twenty  miles 
out  of  the  way,  over  high  mountains,  to  reach  the  prairies  of  the  West. 

If  you  should  inquire  the  cause,  would  your  answer  be, —  That  like 
the  hunted  deer  you  were  running  over  the  highest  mountains  and 
through  the  wildest  glens  to  keep  out  of  the  net  work  of  the  Boston 
railroads. 

4 


50 


Hon.  Roderick  Richardson,  of  Montpelier,  Vt:,  next  ad- 
dressed the  convention,  advocating  the  most  direct  connection 
between  Montpelier  and  Portland,  via  Wells  river  and  Center 
Harbor,  as  follows : 

Mb.  CHiLlRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN : 

Before  we  left  Montpelier  we  had  a  railroad  gathering  in  which  the 
propriety  of  sending  delegates  to  this  convention  was  discussed. 
Some  of  our  people  thought  that  inasmuch  as  this  meeting  was  intend- 
ed for  and  called  hy  the  corporators  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  road, 
we  should  be  regarded  as  interlopers.  On  the  whole  we  concluded  to 
come  to  your  beautiful  and  enterprising  city,  and  if  invited  to  seats  in 
your  convention,  to  occupy  them  as  hearers  rather  than  speakers. 

But  inasmuch  as  you  have  called  upon  me  personally,  I  will  state  to 
you  the  position  that  Montpelier  occupies  in  relation  to  a  connection 
with  your  city  by  rail,  and  when  I  have  said  that,  I  have  done.  ^ 

Last  year  an  effort  was  made  to  bond  the  towns  througli  the  con- 
templated route  from  Montpeher  to  St.  Johnsbury,  there  connecting 
with  a  road  through  the  White  Mountains  to  Portland.  Several  of  the 
towns,  and  perhaps  all  through  which  the  road  was  to  pass  between 
Montpelier  and  St.  Johnsbury,  agreed  to  bond  for  difl'erent  sums,  ac- 
cording to  their  ability  and  interest  in  the  proposed  route.  The  mat- 
ter was  submitted  by  the  inhabitants  of  MontpeUer  to  a  committee  of 
twelve,  and  I  had  the  honor  to  be  one  of  that  number.  The  subject 
was  fully  and  I  believe  faithfully  investigated,  as  the  turning  point 
seemed  to  hang  upon  the  action  of  Montpelier.  The  result  was  that 
the  committee  reported  unfavorably  to  the  raising  of  the  necessary 
sum  by  bonding  the  town.  The  conclusion  was  not  arrived  at  because 
we  were  ftnfriendly  to  St.  Johnsbury,  or  to  Portland ;  on  the  other 
hand,  we  regarded  the  citizens  of  both  places  as  our  friends ;  we  had 
long  been  on  intimate  terms  of  friendship  with  the  citizens  of  St. 
Johnsbury,  and  would  be  glad  to  perpetuate  that  friendship  by  kind 
acts,  and  a  more  direct  communication  by  rail.  But  when  we  looked 
upon  our  maps  we  found  St.  Johnsbury  north  of  us,  and  Portland  south 
of  us.  We  also  found  the  distance  longer  to  St.  Johnsbury  by  several 
miles,  and  the  grades  harder,  over  this  route,  than  from  Montpeher  to 
Wells  River.  In  addition  to  these  advantages,  by  going  to  Wells  River 
we  could  avail  ourselves  of  another  route  to  Massachusetts.  We  have 
for  a  lon^  time  been  taxed  with  an  extravagant  tariff  from  Boston  to 
Montpelier  on  freights.  The  rates  have  been  so  high  that  we  could 
send  freight  over  the  Fitchburg  and  Rutland  roads  to  Burlington,  and 
from  thence,  near  forty  miles,  back  to  Montpelier,  at  a  less  expense 


51 


than  from  Boston  to  Montpelier  direct.  We  have  lumber,  cattle,  sheep, 
hogs,  horses  and  other  articles  of  freight  that  for  the  present  must  find 
a  market  in  Massachusetts :  articles  that  you  have  in  abundance,  but 
which  they  need  to  use  and  consume.  These  articles  of  freight  are 
not  confined  to  the  vicinity  of  Montpelier,  but  are  abundant  in  all  of 
the  north-eastern  portion  of  Vermont,  and  the  north-western  part  of 
New  Hampshire;  and  whether  the  road  shall  be  built  through  St. 
Johnsbury  or  Wells  River,  all  of  this  class  of  freight  from  the  Lamoille 
valley  and  the  north-eastern  part  of  Vermont  and  north-west  New 
Hampshire  must  seek  Massachusetts  for  a  market.  You  would  regard 
it  impracticable  and  a  piece  of  folly  for  us  to  think  of  sending  hem- 
lock bark  and  hemlock  lumber  via  Portland  to  Manchester,  Nashua, 
Worcester  or  Boston.  By  going  to  St.  Johnsbury,  we  would  have  tq 
send  this  freight  down  the  Connecticut  river,  by  the  Passumpsic  road, 
or  over  the  Concord  and  Montreal  road  from  Wells  River.  By  going 
to  Wells  River,  we  connect  direct  with  both  of  these  roads,  which  gives 
us  the  advantages  before  named,  and  a  better  route  to  your  city.  We 
are  benefitted  by  this  connection,  and  you  by  no  means  injured.  Tak- 
ing this  view  of  the  question,  the  committee  appointed  by  the  citizens 
of  Montpelier,  could  not  in  good  faith  recommend  the  heavy  burden 
upon  our  town  necessary  to  build  to  St.  Johnsbury,  when  a  more  feas- 
ible and  advantageous  route  might  be  secured  for  less  money.  Mr. 
Wing  has  laid  before  you  the  statistics  embracing  distances  and  grades 
by  which  I  think  you  will  find  that  this  is  the  least  expensive,  and  the 
best  route  to  reach  the  great  water  communication  to  the  West.  If  you 
shall  come  to  this  conclusion,  we  will  do  what  we  can  towards  the 
completion  of  a  road  to  Wells  River,  and  at  no  distant  day  we  shall  ex- 
pect to  see  you  again  in  Portland  and  to  recognize  your  pleasant  faces 
at  the  capital  of  the  Green  Mountain  State. 
Adjourned  to  meet  at  this  place  to-morrow  at  10  A.  M. 
A  true  record. 

Attest:  Allen  Haines, 

Clerk  of  the  Corporators. 


52 


Portland  &  Rutland  Railkoad  Co., 


Portland,  April  30, 1868.  ) 

Hon.  Frederick  Robie  took  the  chair  at  10  o'clock  and 
called  the  meeting  to  order.  The  clerk  being  absent,  John 
Neal,  Esq.,  was  appointed  clerk  and  duly  sworn. 

The  Convention  was  then  addressed  by  Cyrus  H.  Latham, 
Esq,,  Civil  Engineer,  who  reported  a  reconnoisance  between 
Danbury  and  Center  Harbor. 

Mr.  Latham  had  been  engaged  originally  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Boston,  Concord  and  Montreal  Railroad,  and  des- 
cribed the  characteristics  of  the  proposed  route.  A  line  from 
Center  Harbor  to  Danbury  would  not  attain  an  elevation  of 
over  100  feet  above  lake  Winnipissioge,  which  is  501  feet  above 
tide  water.  By  this  line  you  avoid  the  heavy  summit  on  the 
northern  road  between  Franklin  and  Danbury,  and  the  heavy 
grades  on  the  Boston,  Concord  and  Montreal  railroad  at  War- 
ren, between  Plymouth  and  Wells  River.  He  thought  the 
chance  to  build  was  an  easy  one,  and  the  expense  would  be 
as  small  as  the  average  of  New  England  roads,  and  it  would 
also  be  an  easy  and  cheap  road  to  operate. 

Mr.  Latham  would  continue  the  work  of  his  survey  and 
finish  it  about  the  15th  of  June. 

Mr.  Elias  Towle,  of  Freedom,  N.  H.,  said : 

I  am  c€  the  opinion  that  the  route  for  the  Portland  and  Rutland 
railroad,  through  the  Ossipee  Valley,  is  decidedly  the  best.  There  is 
a  large  amount  of  lumber  in  the  county  of  Carroll,  N.  H.,  that  would 
be  manufactured  and  freighted  over  the  road  when  built,  and  a  plenty 
of  valuable  water  powers  on  this  route.  There  is  also  a  very  extensive 
amount  of  wood  that  would  be  making  its  way  to  market. 

I  was  a  few  days  since  traveling  over  a  ridge  of  land,  some  fifteen 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  river,  near  the  State  of  Maine  line,  and  I 
could  see  through  the  valley  nearly  twenty  miles  west,  and  ten  miles 
east.  It  would  be  a  very  easy  road  to  grade  and  but  a  few  bridges  to 
build.  It  would  pass  through  the  towns  of  Freedom,  Effingham,  Madi- 
son, Ossipee,  Tamworth,  Sandwich,  Moultonborough  and  Center  Har- 
bor in  Carroll  County ;  and  in  addition,  there  is  Eaton,  Conway,  Bart- 
let  [and  Jackson,  that  would  contribute  much  by  way  of  freight  and 
passengers  over  this  route.    Now,  if  you  will  build  a  road  through  the 


53 


White  Mountain  Notch,  you  would  go  north  of  the  greater  part  of 
business  in  Carroll  County,  and  the  road  would  receive  but  a  small 
part  of  the  business  of  that  county.  If  you  go  by  the  Portland  and 
Rutland  road,  you  will  send  a  large  amount  of  business  to  Boston, 
that  otherwise  might  be  saved  for  Portland  by  the  O'ssipee  Yalley 
route.  This  is,  in  my  judgment,  decidedly  the  route  that  will  be  for 
the  interest  of  the  business  men  of  Portland,  and  Portland  is  the 
market  that  we  want. 

Mr.  Elias  Towle,  of  Freedom,  made  some  encouraging  re- 
marks concerning  the  excellent  facilities  for  a  road  from  the 
lower  Ossipee  Valley  back  through  the  country  which  he 
represents.  He  concurred  with  the  gentlemen  who  spoke 
yesterday  in  regard  to  the  importance  of  the  trade  of  the 
towns  along  this  proposed  line. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Ridlon,  of  Parsonsfield,  next  addressed  the  Con- 
vention, as  follows : 

We  of  the  Ossipee  River  Valley  base  our  arguments  in  favor  of  the 
Portland  &  Rutland  Railroad  enterprise  mainly  upon  two  points,  namely: 
the  feasibility  of  the  route  and  the  resources  of  the  "  Great  Ossipee  Val- 
ley." I  do  not  propose  to  make  any  extended  remarks  in  relation  to  the 
resources  of  the  Ossipee  Valley,  but  would  rather  refer  you  to  the  memo- 
rial which  my  friend  Stacy  will  present  to  this  Convention,  signed  by  sev- 
enty of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  which  we  represent,  for  a  more 
accurate  and  complete  statement  in  this  respect  than  I  am  able  to  present. 
From  the  city  of  Portland  to  New  Hampshire  State  line,  via  Great  Ossipee 
Valley,  is  comparatively  a  smooth  level  route  throughout  the  entire  dis- 
tance, with  no  grades  of  any  consequence,  and  even  as  far  as  Meredith,  N. 
H.,  we  find  no  natural  obstructions  that  will  militate  in  the  least  against 
■(jhe  proposed  road.  In  fact,  we  believe  from  careful  observation  and  study 
of  the  geography  of  our  State  that  no  line  of  railroad  within  its  broad 
limits  can  be  built  with  less  expense  for  the  same  distance  than  that  por- 
tion of  the  Portland  &  Rutland  Railroad  from  Portland  to  New  Hamp- 
shire line.  Indeed,  we  think  it  will  fall  far  below  the  general  estimate  of 
the  cost  per  mile  of  railroads  in  Maine.  Without  desiring  to  detract  any- 
thing from  the  merits  of  the  Portland  &  Ogdensburg  Railroad  enterprise, 
we  are  quite  sure  that  the  cost  of  laying  a  track  through  the  Ossipee  Val- 
ley as  compared  with  the  Saco  River  route  through  the  notch  of  the  White 
Mountains,  will  not  exceed  fifty  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  the  latter  route. 
Again,  in  relation  to  the  amount  of  business  that  either  of  the  proposed 
routes  can  command  within  our  own  State  limits,  we  are  of  the  opinion 
that  the  Ossipee  Valley  route  has  decidedly  the  advantage.  Our  numer- 
ous water  powers  and  extensive  timber  tracts  as  yet  unimproved  and  un- 


54 


touched,  will  be  the  means  of  contributing  a  large  amount  of  business  to 
a  road  traversing  this  line.  In  conclusion,  let  me  say  that  the  good  people 
of  the  Ossipee  Valley  are  sanguine  in  their  expectations  that  the  Portland 
&  Rutland  Railroad  will  be  built  at  an  early  day,  and  fully  aware  of  the 
great  benefits  to  be  derived  from  such  an  enterprise,  are  anxiously  waiting 
with  outstretched  arms  to  receive  their  portion  of  Ihis  great  thoroughfare, 
and  are  ready  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  aid  it  to  an  early  completion. 

Mr.  L.  D.  Stacy,  of  Porter,  next  addressed  the  Conven- 
tion. Mr.  Stacy  read  a  paper  in  the  form  of  a  memorial 
signed  by  Edward  Gibbs  and  others,  of  Keazer  Falls. 

Voted,  That  said  memorial  be  entered  at  full  length  with  the  published 
Tjroceedings  of  the  Convention,  and  that  copies  be  furnished  the  city  Press 
for  publication,  as  follows: 

PORTLAND  AND  RUTLAND  RAILROAD  MEMORIAL. 

To  the  Corporators  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Company  in  Con- 
vention at  Portland,  on  Wednesday,  the  29th  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1868  : 

The  undersigned  interested  in  the  construction  of  the  Portland  and  Rut- 
land Railroa<i,  herewith  communicate  our  views  on  the  subject  matter  of 
the  entei-prise. 

The  Portland  &  Rutland  proposed  railroad  would  be  on  a  direct  line 
from  Portland  to  Rutland  and  Whitehall  at  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain, 
where  it  would  intersect  with  the  great  railroads  and  canals  opening  to  the 
"Western  States  and  the  great  lakes,  and  when  the  Pacific  Railroad  is  com- 
pleted to  the  Pjvcific  ocean. 

The  advantages  that  Portland  would  derive  from  Aid  road  when  put  in 
operation  would  be  almost  incalculable. 

Portlajjd  being  the  nearest  seaport  on  the  whole  route  to  the  Western 
States,  we  see  no  good  reason  why  Portland  should  not  compete  with  all 
rivals  for  a  large  share  of  the  immense  western  trade. 

Whitehall  in  a  direct  line  to  Portland  is  about  145  miles.  Whitehall  to 
New  York  city  by  the  canal  to  Albany  (72  miles)  thence  by  the  Hudson 
river  (160  miles)  would  be  232  miles,  making  Portland  nearer  Whitehall 
than  New  York  city  is  by  87  miles. 

To  connect  Portland  and  Rutland  by  railroad  it  would  be  necessary  to 
build  a  road  from  Portland  to  Center  Harbor,  a  distance  of  64  miles,  where 
it  would  intersect  with  the  New  Hampshire  railroads,  and  by  supplying  a 
few  connecting  links,  the  road  would  be  complete  to  Whitehall. 

The  distance  of  the  road  in  Maine  from  Portland  to  New  Hampshire 
State  line  would  be  40  miles,  from  State  line  to  Center  Harbor  24  miles. 
We  are  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the  cost  of  grading  a  road  from  Port- 
land to  Center  Harbor,  via  the  Ossipee  valley,  would  be  much  less  and  a 
much  easier  grade  than  on  any  other  proposed  route  for  the  same  distance. 

The  towns  in  the  Ossipee  valley  which  the  road  would  pass  through  or 


56 


come  in  close  proximity  with,  would  be  Cornish,  Hiram,  Parsonsfield, 
Porter,  Freedom,  Effingham,  Ossipee,  Tamworth,  Sandwich,  Moultonhor- 
ough,  and  Center  Harbor,  These  towns  comprise  a  population  of  about 
25,000  inhabitants,  and  all  of  them  contain  valuable  water  powers,  and 
immense  forests  of  wood  and  timber.  There  are  on  the  Ossipee  and  its 
tributaries  22  water  powers  now  improved,  and  about  an  equal  number 
unimproved. 

The  water  power  at  Keazer  Falls  is  sufficient  to  carry  all  machinery  placed 
upon  it  for  a  distance  of  600  rods,  even  in  the  driest  seasons. 

It  is  our  decided  opinion  that  there  cannot  be  a  railroad  built  from  the 
city  of  Portland  in  any  direction  whatever,  that  will  be  of  so  much  advan- 
tage to  Portland,  considering  the  cost  of  building,  as  the  Portland  and 
Rutland  road. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Ossipee  valley  are  deeply  interested  in  the  con-- 
struction  of  the  road,  and  would  in  our  opinion  contribute  liberally  to  tha 
construction  of  the  same. 


Edward  Gibbs, 
Samuel  Stanley, 
John  Moulton, 
Wm.  S.  Weeks, 
Samuel  Parker, 
John  Call, 
Geo.  Milliken, 
John  C.  Mason, 
Paul  Hussey, 

F.  Foss, 
Oren  Taylor, 
J.  M.  Davis, 
Chas.  Davis, 
Geo.  Stacy, 
James  Garland, 
T.  H.  Brooks, 
Samuel  Stanley,  2d, 
Geo.  F.  Dow, 
David  Smith, 
Jacob  Dearborn, 
Tobias  Libby, 

G.  W.  Wadleigh, 
E.  S.  Eidlon, 


J.  F.  Ridlon, 
J.  S.  Edgecomb, 
E.  T.  Edgecomb, 
W.  T.  Sargent, 

C.  H.  Randall, 
Andrew  Maryfield, 
M.  Ridlon, 
Daniel  Pilsbury, 
E.  H.  Newbegin, 
Thos.  Chick, 
Clark  Stanley, 

L.  D.  Stacy, 
G.  A.  S.  Fowler, 
S.  S.  Weeks, 
J.  W.  Chapman, 
Randall  Libby, 
J.  R.  Milliken, 
W.  H.  Stanley, 
M.  G.  C.  Durgin, 
J.  M.  Maryfield, 
Samuel  Ridlon,  Jr., 

D.  D.  Ridlon, 
John  Weeks,* 
Thos.  E.  Fox, 


Wm.  W.  Went  worth, 
John  S.  Wentworth, 
IMoses  Stanley, 
S.  Clemons, 
Sutton  Edgecomb, 
Wm.  S.  Stanley, 
H.  B.  Pike, 
J.  L.  Fox, 
Geo.  L.  Norton, 
Wm.  Towle. 
A.  H.  Mason, 
John  F.  Towle, 
Major  Edgecomb, 
Horace  Stanley, 
Stephen  Martin, 
John  Taylor, 
S.  C.  Randall, 
Geo.  Mason, 
L.  W.  Pendexter, 
Jordan  Stacy, 
Jonn  S.  IsTewbegin, 
Otis  Banks, 
John  Stanley,  3d. 


Keazer  Falls,  Me.,  April  28,  A.  D.  1868. 


56 


Mr.  Jere  B.  Davis  of  Parsonsfield,  and  Samuel  Tyler  of 
Brownfield,  also  addressed  the  convention.  Jabez  C.  Wood- 
man, Esq.,  of  Portland,  in  response  to  a  call,  addressed  the 
meeting  at  length  as  to  the  corporative  advantages  of  the 
proposed  route  to  Rutland  in  contrast  with  the  route  to  St. 
Johnsburj  via  the  Notch  of  the  White  Mountains. 

Mr.  Tyler  excused  himself  from  a  speech  from  the  fact  that 
the  road  will  not  go  by  his  house !  a  statement  that  caused 
some  merriment. 

At  the  close  of  the  speaking  the  corporation  proceeded 

with  their  business,  and 

Voted,  That  terms  of  subscription  to  the  capital  stock  of  said  Company 
shall  be  as  follows,  viz: 

Subscription  to  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Company. 
Capital,  20,000  shares  of  8100  each. 

TERMS  OP  SXTBSCRLPTION. 

The  subscribers  hereby  agree  to  take  and  fill  the  number  of  shares  in 
the  stock  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Company,  set  against 
their  names,  respectively,  on  the  terms  and  conditions  following,  viz: 

1.  The  advance  payment  on  each  share  shall  be  five  dollars. 

2.  The  shares  shall  not  be  assessed  more  than  five  dollars  each,  payable 
at  one  time,  nor  t^  a  greater  amount  in  all,  than  one  hundred  dollars,  in- 
cluding the  advance  of  five  dollars. 

3.  Whenever  the  whole  amount  of  one  hundred  dollars  shall  be  assess- 
ed, and  the  road  put  iu  operation  for  the  whole  or  any  part  of  its  distance, 
the  holder  of  the  stock  upon  which  assessments  shall  have  been  paid  in 
full,  shall  receive  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent  on  the  sums  paid  on 
his  or  her  share  or  shares,  computed  from  the  days  of  payment  up  to  the 
time  the  last  assessment  shall  become  due  and  payable.  If  any  stock- 
holder be  delinquent,  after  said  time,  interest  shall  be  charged  on  his  as- 
sessment from  said  time  till  payment. 

4.  Whenever  the  directors  shall  call  for  any  assessment,  every  stock- 
holder shall  be  at  liberty  to  pay  such  sum  over  and  above  the  amount 
actually  assessed,  as  he  or  she  may  see  fit  to  pay,  not  exceeding  one  hun- 
dred dollars  on  each  share,  and  interest  shall  be  allowed  and  p:&d  thereon 
as  provided  in  the  third  regulation. 

5.  If  the  whole  number  of  shares  subscribed  for  shall  exceed  twenty 
thousand,  such  excess  shall  be  disposed  of  by  reducing  pro-rata  the  sub- 
scriptions which  are  over  twenty-five  shares,  without  making  fractions  in 
the  apportionment  of  the  excess. 


57 


Voted,  That  a  Committee  consisting  of  18  be  now  appointed  to  have 
charge  of  the  books  of  subscription,  with  all  the  powers  incident  to  the 
corporators,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  secure  subscriptions  to  the  capital 
stock,  and  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  for  the  choice  of  Directors 
as  soon  as  the  amount  of  stock  subscribed  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  cor- 
poration, with  authority  to  take  all  measures  necessary  for  this  purpose, 
to  fill  any  vacancies  that  may  exist  or  add  to  their  number  at  their  discre- 
tion. 

Voted,  That  said  Committee  shall  consist  of  the  following  persons,  viz: 


John  Mussey  of  Portland, 
John  A.  Poor,  " 

John  B.  Carroll, 
Wm.  Deering,  " 

K  C.  Eice,  " 

Francis  Macdonald,  " 
Wm.  W.  Woodbury,  •* 
A.  K.  Shurtleff,  "     . 

Geo.  W.  Woodman,   " 


Jas.  L,  Farmer,  of  Portland, 
Fred.  Robie,  of  Gorham, 
John  Jameson,  of  Cornish, 
Horatio  J.  Swasey,  of  Standish, 
Newell  A.  Foster,  of  Portland, 
John  M.  Adams,  " 

Tobias  Lord,  of  Standish, 
James  M.  Kimball,  of  Portland, 
Samuel  Hanson,  of  Buxton. 


Voted,  That  said  Committee  have  authority  to  cause  a  survey  of  the 
route,  and  to  procure  the  necessary  charter  in  New  Hampshire,  and  take 
such  other  measures  as  may  be  necessary  to  raise  the  money  to  build  the 
said  road,  and  any  and  all  sums  of  money  advanced  for  these  purposes, 
shall  be  allowed  and  credited  on  account  of  subscriptions  to  the  stock. 

Voted,  That  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  subscriptions  to  the  capital 
stock  of  said  Company,  books  of  subscription  shall  be  opened  under  the 
direction  of  said  committee  on  Monday,  the  sixth  (6)  day  of  July,  1868,  in 
the  following  cities  and  towns,  and  at  the  places  and  with  the  persons  fol- 
lowing, in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  2d  section  of  the  Charter 
of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Company,  to  wit : 


In  Portland  at  the  office 

"  Westbrook  "  " 

"  Gorham  "  " 
'•  Standish 

"  Baldwin  "*  " 

**  Limington  "  " 

"  Cornish  "  " 

"  Parsonsfield    "  " 

"  Limerick  "  .     " 

"  Newfield  "  " 

"  Hiram  " 

"  Porter  "  " 

"  Brownfield  "  " 
"  Freedom,N.H." 

"  Ossipee     "  "  " 


of  Treasurer  of  the  city. 
"   Sjynuel  Jordan,  Esq. 
"  Hon.  John  A.  Waterman. 
"  H.  J.  Swasey,  Esq. 
"  Daniel  T.  Richardson. 
"   Col.  Wm.  McArthur. 
"  John  Jameson,  Esq. 
"  E.  S.  Ridlen,  Esq. 
"  Wm.  Swasey,  Esq. 
"  Gen.  D.  Chellis,  Esq. 
"  Randall  Libby,  Esq. 
"  Moses  S.  Moulton,  Esq. 
"  Thomas  P.  Cleaves,  Esq. 
"  Elias  Towle,  Esq. 
"  H.  J.  Banks,  Esq. 


58 


In  W.  Ossipee  at  the  office  of  J.  Q.  Roles  and  S.  B.  Carter. 
"  Tamworth"  " 
"  Moultonboro  " 
"  Sandwich  "  " 
"  Center  Harbor" 
'*  Meredith  " 

"  N.Hampton    " 
"  Bristol  " 

•^  Alexandria      " 
"  Hill 

•*  Danbury  " 

"  Chicago,  111.     •' 


N.  Hubbard  and  O.  G.  Hatch. 

Dr.  W.  Mason. 

I.  Adams  and  J.  Wentworth. 

J.  L.  Huntress,  Esq. 

J.  P.  Plummer. 

J.  S.  Piper. 

Cyrus  Taylor. 

Schuyler  Walker. 

John  H.  Emmons. 

Timothy  E.  Clous'h. 

Hon.  John  Wentworth. 


Which  hooks  shall  remain  open  for  five  successive  days  at  the  times 
and  places,  and  with  the  persons  named  above,  and  said  Committee  shall 
cause  books  of  subscription  to  be  opened  with  such  other  persons  and  at 
such  other  places  as  they  may  deem  expedient. 

Voted,  That  in  case  the  whole  number  of  sliares  subscribed  for  within 
the  period  above  named,  shall  not  be  equal  lo  the  number  of  shares  re- 
quired for  the  organization  of  the  company,  the  books  of  subscription  shall 
remain  open  at  the  office  of  City  Treasurer  in  the  city  of  Portland  under 
the  direction  of  said  Committee,  until  the  number  of  shares  subscribed  for 
shall  he  sufficient  to  secure  the  organization  of  said  company,  and  the 
Committee  aforesaid  shall  be  authorized  to  continne  their  labors  until  the 
subscription  to  the  capital  stock  shall  be  equal  to  the  sum  required  by  law 
for  such  organization.  And  thereafter  said  Committee  shall  be  authorized 
to  call  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  for  the  choice  of  Directors  and  the 
organization  of  said  company  as  required  by  law. 

Voted,  That  the  committee  in  charge  of  books  of  subscription  be  author- 
ized and  requested  to  publish  a  report  in  pamphlet  form,  of  the  doings  of 
the  Convention,  including  the  report  of  C.  E.  Latham,  Esq.,  Civil  Engi- 
neer, of  his  survey  of  the  line  from  Danbury  to  Center  Harbor,  with  all 
such  facts  and  reports  as  they  may  be  able  to  gather  as  to  the  character  of 
the  route,  the  business  upon  the  line,  and  its  connections  with  other  rail- 
roads. 

Hon.  O.  F.  Fowler  of  Bristol,  N.  H.,  informed  the  Con- 
vention that  a  meeting  of  the  fi-icnds  of  Portland  &  Rutland 
Railroad  would  hold  a  meeting  at  Center  Harbor  on  Wed- 
nesday, the  27th  day  of  May  next,  at  10  o'clock  in  the  fore- 
noon, whereupon  it  was  voted  that  notice  of  said  meeting  be 
given  to  the  Portland  papers. 

Judge  Fowler  here  announced  that  he  was  authorized  to 
pledge  the  town  of  Bristol  for  the  eight  miles  of  road  from 
Danbury  to  Bristol. 


59 


On  motion  of  John  A.  Poor,  it  was 

Voted,  That  when  the  Convention  adjourned,  it  be  to  meet  at  this  place 
on  Monday,  the  13th  day  of  July,  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

On  motion  of  J.  B.  Carroll,  Esq., 

Voted,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Convention  be  tendered  to  Hon.  Freder- 
ick Eobie  for  the  agreeable  and  satisfactory  manner  in  which  he  jiresidedi 
over  the  deliberations  of  this  Convention. 

On  motion  of  N.  C.  Rice,  Esq., 

Voted,  That  the  Convention  now  adjourn, 

A  true  copy. 

Attest:  John  Neal,   Clerk, 


PEOCEEDOGS 


I]SrTERN_A.TIO]NrA.L 


HELD  IN  THE  CITY  OF  PORTLAND,  ME., 


August  4th  and  5th,  1868. 


EEPORTED    BY    J.    M.    W.    YERRINTON. 


PORTLAND: 

B.    THURSTON   AND    COMPANY,   PRINTERS. 

1868. 


International  Commercial  Convention. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  the  Corporators 
of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Company,  held 
at  the  office  of  the  Ocean  Insurance  Company,  in 
Portland,  on  the  4th  of  June,  1868,  Messrs.  John  A. 
Poor,  J.  B.  Carroll,  Frederick  Robie,  N.  A.  Foster,  and 
William  Deering  were  appointed  a  committee  to  take 
into  consideration  the  expediency  of  inviting  a  Con- 
vention, to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Portland  during  the 
present  summer,  for  the  purpose  of  concentrating 
public  attention  upon  Portland  Harbor,  as  the  cheap- 
est port  for  the  exportation  of  Western  produce — and 
the  advantages  of  a  direct  line  of  railway  a'cross  the 
continent  at  its  widest  part,  connecting  Halifax,  Port- 
land, Rutland,  Buffalo,  Detroit,  Chicago,  and  San  Fran- 
cisco by  one  connected  chain  of  railways  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  said  corporators  held  at  the 
Mayor's  Office  in  Portland,  on  Saturday,  June  20, 
1868,  with  other  parties  in  consultation  as  to  the 


measures  now  required  to  enlarge  the  business  of 
Portland,  it  was 

Voted,  *'  That,  as  the  sense  of  this  meeting,  a  call  for  a  Convention  should 
be  issued,  inviting  all  those  friendly  to  public  improvements  and  favorable 
to  the  increase  of  the  means  of  intercourse  and  trade  across  the  continent, 
and  the  adjustment  upon  liberal  terms  of  the  regulations  of  trade  upon  the 
continent  of  North  America,  to  be  held  at  the  City  Hall  in  Portland,  in 
July  or  August  next,  at  such  time  as  shall  be  fixed  by  said  Committee; 
signed  by  the  Corporators." 

.  At  a  meeting  of  said  Corporators,  June  29, 1868, 
Mr.  Poor  submitted,  in  behalf  of  the  Committee,  the 
form  of  a  call  for  the  Convention,  which,  after  vari- 
ous amendments,  was  agreed  to,  signed  by  the  Cor- 
porators, and  printed  in  the  form  of  a  note  of  invi- 
tation, as  follows : 


CALL   FOR   THE   CONVENTION. 


To- 


Yon  are  respectfully  invited  to  take  part  in  an  International  Commercial 
Convention,  to  be  held  at  Portland,  Maine,  on  Tuesday,  August  4,  1868, 
to  take  into  consideration  the  various  measures  and  plans  now  before  the 
countty,  to  increase  facilities  of  intercourse  and  trade  betweeiU;lie  Atlantic 
sea-board  and  the  interior  of  the  continent,— to  adopt  measures  to  secure  a 
line  of  railway  across  the  continent  at  its  widest  part,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  seas,  connecting  Halifax,  Portland,  Rutland,  Buffalo,  Detroit, 
Chicago,  and  San  Francisco  in  an  unbroken  line ;  and  the  completion  of  a 
direct  line  from  the  St.  Lawrence  waters  to  Puget  Sound;  the  adjustment, 
on  liberal  terms,  of  the  regulations  of  trade  on  the  continent  of  North 
America; — and  such  arrangement  of  lines  of  Ocean  Steamers,  sailing  at 
fixed  hours  daily  from  each  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  between  China 
and  San  Francisco,  as  shall  secure  lines  of  communication  by  this  route 
between  Europe  and  Asia,  as  regular  and  as  convenient  as  those  now 
existing  between  city  and  city  upon  the  same  continent; — on  the  completion 
of  the  lines  of  railway  now  built,  in  progress,  or  proposed,  between  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco. 

From  Cape  Canso,  Nova  Scotia,  latitude 45  deg.,  17  min.,  longitude  61  deg., 
to  Cape  Lookout  in  Oregon,  in  latitude  45  deg.,  30  min.,  and  longitiide  134 
deg.,  the  distance  across  the  continent  is  63  deg.— 2,773  geographical  miles, 


5 

or  3,191  statute  miles— along  which  line,  or  slightly  south  of  it,  railroads 
are  being  constructed  and  already  in  progress  between  Halifax  and  San 
Francisco.  The  only  link  remaining  to  be  provided  for,  is  the  distance  from 
Portland  to  Rutland,  upon  the  same  parallel  of  latitude. 

For  a  portion  of  the  distance,— from  Portland  to  the  Ossipee  Valley, 
thirty  miles  or  more, — two  charters  exist;  to  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg 
Railroad  Co.,  and  to  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  Co. 

The  charter  of  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg  Road  was  granted  in  1867, 
and  the  city  of  Portland  has  authorized  a  subscription  of  $750,000  to  its 
stock.  This  sum  will  secure  the  building  of  a  line  in  the  direction  of  the 
White  Mountain  Notch,  and  on  the  direct  route  to  Rutland. 

The  friends  of  both  enterprises  will,  it  is  believed,  unite  upon  this  common 
line,  leaving  but  sixty-one  miles  of  new  line  to  be  provided  to  complete  the 
chain  from  Portland  to  Rutland,  and  all  the*  West. 

The  friends  of  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg  Railroad  believe,  that  the 
completion  of  a  line  of  railway  to  the  navigable  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
at  Ogdensburg,  in  connection  with  the  proposed  Niagara  Ship  Canal,  will 
insure  an  outlet  for  western  produce  of  great  commercial  value.  Large 
subscriptions  are  already  secured  to  the  Portland  and  Ogdensburg  Railroad 
Company  from  municipal  corporations,  and  individuals  in  Northern  New 
HamjDshire  and  Vermont. 

From  Halifax  to  Chicago,  a  distance  of  1,G50  miles,  134  miles  lie  in  Nova 
Scotia,  214  miles  across  New  Brunswick,  286  miles  across  Maine,  84  miles 
across  New  Hampshire,  66  miles  across  Vermont,  352  miles  in  New  York' 
230  miles  in  Canada,  219  miles  in  Michigan,  52  miles  in  Indiana,  and  13  miles 
in  Illinois. 

From  Chicago  to  San  Francisco,  by  the  Union  or  Central  Pacific  Railway, 
the  distance  is  2,338  miles,  making  a  total  of  3,988  miles,  or,  in  round 
number,  4,000  miles  of  connected  railway  across  the  continent  at  its  widest 
part,  by  the  most  direct  possible  line,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean. 

The  expected  completion  of  the  line  of  the  European  and  North  American 
Railway  from  Bangor  to  Halifax,  simultaneously  with  the  completion  of 
the  Union  or  Central  Pacific  Railway,  from  Chicago  to  San  Francisco,  has 
concentrated  public  opinion  upon  the  necessity  of  filling  in  the  links  in  the 
great  continental  chain  of  railways,  destined  to  span, the  continent  at  its 
widest  part,  forming  iii  the  whole  the  grandest  line  of  railway  intercom- 
munication the  world  can  ever  reach,— more  than  realizing  the  dream  of 
Columbus,  who  sailed  West  to  reach  the  East,  shortening  the  transit 
between  the  Orient  and  Occident  to  its  lowest  possible  limit  of  time  and 
expense  by  means  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Raihoay. 

By  extending  a  line  due  west  from  Portland  to  Whitehall,  and  from 
thence  to  Rome,  on  the  line  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad,  the  distance 
from  Chicago  to  Halifax  can  be  reduced  to  about  1,600  miles,  over  favorable 
grades,  easily  condensing  the  time  between  Chicago  and  Liverpool  to 


twelve  days,  and  reducing  the  transit  between  San  Francisco  and  London 
to  seventeen  days,  by  way  of  Halifax  and  Liverpool ;— and  many  entertain 
the  belief  that  the  railway,  now  reaching  as  far  east  as  Pictou,  will  be 
finally  extended  to  Canso,  if  not  to  Louisbourg  or  Miray  Bay  in  Cape 
Breton,  200  miles  nearer  to  Europe  than  Halifax. 

The  probable  completion  of  the  Pacific  Railway  already  attracts  attention 
in  China  and  in  Australia,  and  it  is  contended  by  the  promoters  of  the 
Panama  and  Australia  line,  that  a  distance  of  seven  hundred  miles  will  be 
saved  by  running  from  Wellington,  the  great  shipping  port  of  Australia,  to 
San  Francisco,  over  the  line  to  Panama.  The  distance  from  Wellington  to 
San  Francisco,  atlopting  Tahiti  as  a  coaling  station,  is  5,864  geographical 
miles,  equal  to  6,748  statute  miles  only. 

Mails  could  be  carried  from  Wellington  to  San  Francisco  in  twenty-five 
days,  from  San  Francisco  to  Portland  in  six  days,  to  Halifax  in  seven  days 
and  in  ten  days  more  from  Halifax  to  London,  or  in  forty-two  days'  time 
from  London  to  Australia,  instead  of  the  sixty  or  seventy  days  now 
required  to  accomplish  the  distance  from  Wellington  to  Loudon. 

No  one  can  doubt  that  the  mails,  gold  and  silver  treasure,  and  tl^  more 
valuable  articles  of  merchandise  will  take  this  route  from  the  East,  the 
shortest  in  distance,  and  vastly  more  economical,  by  the  use  of  the  rail  for 
4,000  miles  between  Halifax  and  San  Francisco;  on  the  completion  of  the 
Portland  and  Rutland,  the  European  and  North  American  Railway,  and  of 
the  Central  Pacific  line. 

The  completion  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  from  Chicago  to  Puget 
Sound,  will  save,  as  is  supposed,  eight  hundred  miles  between  Hong-Kong 
and  London.  It  was  stated  by  the  late  Governor  Stevens  of  Oregon,  that 
every  seat  of  commerce  upon  the  Atlantic  coast,  would  be  nearer  to  Puget 
Sound  by  the  route  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  than  to  San  Francisco 
by  the  Central  Pacific  line;  and  it  is  believed  that  the  distance  between 
Portland  and  the  Pacific  coast,  counting  in  the  more  favorable  grades  over 
the  Northern  route,  will  be  equal  to  the  saving  of  five  hundred  miles  of 
land  carriage,  and  shortening  by  several  hundred  miles  the  ocean  transit 
from  Shanghai  to  Puget  Sound. 

The  cordial  manner  in  which  all  plans  for  extending  railways  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  waters  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  have  been  met  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  people  of  Canada,  lead  us  to  expect  that  a  route  to  the  Pacific 
from  Montreal  harbor,  by  the  valley  of  the  Ottawa,  and  on  the  south  shore 
of  Lake  Superior,  may  yet  unite  suflicient  capital  and  influence  from  the 
Imperial  Government  and  the  British  Colonies  of  North  America,  in 
co-operation  Avith  those  of  the  United  States,  to  secure  the  shortest  line 
between  the  na\'igable  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans. 

The  harbor  of  Montreal,  in  latitude  45  deg.,  30  min.,  and  in  longitude 
73  deg.,  36  min.,  would,  in  the  summer  months,  be  the  natural  terminus  of 
the  trans-continental  line  by  the  most  direct  route.  This  will  secure  to 
Portland,  in  the  winter  months,  the  same  advantages. 


The  line  from  Puget  Sound  east,  will  naturally  embranch  at,  or  near, 
the  head  of  Lake  Superior — or  between  Superior  and  Huron,  at  the  Straits 
of  St.  Mary.  All  lines  coming  east,  from  the  Mississippi  waters,  will 
naturally  unite  at  Portland  harbor  with  those  from  the  north-west,  and 
form  a  common  trunk-line  east,  to  some  good  harbor  on  the  farthest 
Atlantic  shore. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  Postmaster-General  of  Great  Britain 
recently  intimated  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  Imperial  Government 
should  consider  the  question  of  a  line  of  steamers  across  the  Atlantic 
sailing  at  fixed  hours  DAILY,  connecting  Liverpool  and  Halifax,  and 
eventually  the  nearest  ports  on  each  side  the  Atlantic  Ferry,  as  the  lines 
of  railways  are  finished  to  the  nearest  ports  on  each  side  of  the  ocean. 

Travel  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  has  increased  more  rapidly  than  the 
business  of  Railroads,— great  as  that  has  been  on  the  leading  lines.  In 
1850,  when  the  European  and  North  American  Railway  was  proposed,  as  the 
means  of  shortening  the  transit  between  New  York  and  London,  two  lines 
of  steamers,  or  only  two  steamers  per  week,  at  that  time  crossed  the  Atlan- 
tic. In  1867,  the  number  of  weekly  steamers  to  and  from  Europe  had  in- 
increased  to  seventeen  each  way,  carrying  over  200,000  passengers  a  year. 
In  1864, 135,317  crossed  by  steamers,— 30,303  eastward,  105,014  coming  west- 
ward,—showing  that  60,000  at  least  were  first  class  passengers  that  year, 
business  or  pleasure  travel,  that  always  seeks  the  shortest  and  most  agreea- 
ble routes.  The  number  of  passengers  that  crossed  the  ocean  by  steamers 
in  1867  has  not  been  reported,  but  a  very  large  proportion  has  been  of 
that  class  that  would  leave  the  steamers  at  Halifax,  bound  westward,  or 
take  the  rail  to  Halifax  in  order  to  shorten  the  sea-voyage  to » Europe. 
Estimating  the  number  of  these  passengers  at  100,000  per  year,  and  divid- 
ing that  number  by  one-half,  it  would  give  50,000  through  passengers  yearly, 
or  80  passengers  daily  each  way  upon  this  line,  from  Portland  to  Halifax, 
for  the  313  business  days  of  the  year,  a  greater  through  business  than  on 
any  other  line  of  equal  extent  in  the  world. 

It  was  a  belief  in  this,  that  has  procured  the  means  for  constructing  this 
long  line  from  Bangor  to  Halifax. 

A  large  portion  of  this  European  travel  comes  from  Canada  and  the 
West,  which  would  seek  the  shortest  route  without  being  compelled  to  pro- 
ceed to  New  York,  the  great  port  at  this  time  of  ocean  travel.  New  Hamp- 
shire, Vermont,  Canada,  Michigan,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  all  the  Western 
States  are  interested  alike  in  this  matter.  Montreal,  Toronto,  Detroit,  Chi- 
cago, Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  and  Milwaukee  passengers  would  seek  the 
nearest  European  port  by  rail,  which  would  become  the  port  of  call  for  all 
steamers  sailing  to  Europe.  By  this  line  from  Rutland  to  Portland,  the 
most  direct  one  to  the  West  is  completed.  Beyond  the  Hudson,  stretches 
the  great  West,  the  granary  of  the  earth,  where  human  food,  produced 
more  cheaply  and  in  greater  abundance  than  on  any  other  soil,  presses 
to  the  sea-board  for  a  market,  like  the  waters  of  a  vast  lake  that  cannot 
contain  its  accumulated  masses,  it  will  force  new  channels  to  the  sea. 


The  following  table  shows  the  intermediate  distances  on  the  line  across 
the  continent,  from  Halifax  to  San  Francisco,  as  follows: 

Total  No.     Feet  above 
rnou  Miles.  Miles.        Tide  Water. 

Halifax  to  Truro 61 

Truro  to  New  Brunswick  Line  73  184 

New  Brunswick  to  Moncton 36  170 

Moncton  to  .St.  Jolin 92  262 

St.  John  to  Maine  Boundary 86  348"            882 

Boundary  to  liangor 110  458 

Bangor  to  Portland 138  696 

Halifaxto  Portland 696 

Portland  to  New  Hampshire  Line 88 

New  Hampshire  I^ine  to  Vermont  Boundary 84  122               331 

White  Kiver. Junction  to  Rutland 46  163               630 

Kutland  to  .Schenectady 85  2.53 

Schenectady  to  Suspension  Bridge 287  64<)              566 

Suspension  Bri<lj.'e  to  Detroit 280  770               589 

Detroit  to  Chiciijro 284  1,054              626 

Portland  to  Jiiicago 1,054 

Chicago  to  .Mississippi  River  at  Clinton  138 

Mississippi  Ki  ver  to  Missouri  River  at  Omaha 356  494               968 

Omaha  to  Summit  of  Rocky  Mountains,  fivans  Pass. .  .547  1,041           8,842 

Summit  to  Hridgers  Pa.s8 142  1,183            7.534 

Bridgera  Pass  tu  Salt  Lake 880  1,563            4,290 

Salt  Lake  to  San  Francisco 775  2,388 

Chicago  to  San  Francisco 2.338 

Portland  to  .San  Francisco 3,388 

HalifkxtoSan  Francisco 3,988 

That  the  Transatlantic  travel  will  prefer  railway  transit  to  ocean  navi- 
gation is  no  longer  a  question,  since  the  Canard  line  have  made  Cork  a 
port  of  call.  Much  of  the  pleasure  and  busines.s  travel  leaves  the  steamer 
at  Queenstown  in  the  outward  passage,  and  joins  the  steamer  at  that  port 
on  their  western  trips  by  means  of  the  rails  between  Cork  and  Dublin, 
and  between  London  and  Holyhead,  using  the  short  ferry  across  the  Irish 
Channel. 

Lines  of  railway  communication  heretofore  have  been  subordinate  to 
local  wants,  jmshed  out  into  the  interior  from  commercial  centers,  with  a 
view  to  the  enlargement  of  local  or  domestic  trade.  Larger  purposes  and 
broader  views  now  engross  the  public  mind.  The  building  of  railways  to 
the  Pacific  is  destined  to  change  the  course  of  trade  between  the  old  world 
and  the  new,  which  must  work  an  entire  revolution  in  the  habits  and  busi- 
ness of  our  people.  And  in  carrying  out  the  railroads  in  question,  this 
leading  idea  should  be  kept  constantly  in  view,  conforming  to  the  enlarged 
notions  demanded  by  the  progress  of  the  age. 

The  undersigned,  Corporators  in  the  Portland  and  Kutland  Bailroad 
Company,  take  the  liberty  of  inviting  your  attention  to  this  enteriirise, 
and  respectfully  invite  the  friends  of  public  improvement  to  meet  in 
Convention  at  Portland,  on  Tuesday,  the  4th  day  of  August 
KEXT,  at  10  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  at  the  City  Hall,  to  take  into  consider- 
ation the  various  measures  and  plans  herein  named — and  now  before  the 
country — to  increase  facilities  of  intercourse  and  trade  by  canal  and  rail- 
way, between  the  interior  and  the  Atlantic  sea-board ;  and  the  adoption  of 
such  other  measures  as  shall  relieve  commerce  of  unnecessary  burdens, 
quidcen  commercial  intercourse,  and  give  to  each  and  every  section  of  this 


broad  Continent  that  unrestricted  freedom  of  trade,  that  shall  make  us 
one  people,  in  everything  that  tends  to  the  elevation  and  advancement  of 
the  race. 


John  A.  Poor, 

H.   J.   LiBBY, 

"Wm.  Deering, 
John  Lynch, 
A.  E.  Stevens, 
G.  W.  Woodman, 
A.  K.  Shultleff, 
R.  M.  Richardson, 
John  Neal, 
John  Jameson, 
Samuel  Jordan, 
John  Mussey, 
Wm.  W.  Woodbury, 
Joseph  Howard, 
J.  C.  Woodman, 
J.  M.  Kimball, 


Wm.  Willis, 
Wm.  H.  Fessenden, 
J.  B.  Carroll, 
J.  L.  Farmer, 
Fred'k  Robie, 
Tobias  Lord, 
Charles  Fobes, 
Jonas  H.  Perley, 
l.  d.  m.  swett, 
John  M.  Adams, 
Allen  Haines, 
Enoch  Knight, 
N.  C.  Rice, 
N.  A.  Foster, 
N.  L.  Woodbury, 
Samuel  Hanson. 


P.  S.  In  case  of  inability  to  attend,  parties  are  respectfully  invited  to 
present  their  views  in  writing,  at  or  before  the  assembling  of  the  Conven- 
tion. 

Municipal  bodies  and  Commercial  organizations  are  respectfully  request- 
ed to  report,  in  advance,  the  names  of  Delegates  to  represent  them. 

^^A  reply  to  this  communication  is  respectfully  requested,  on  or  be- 
fore the  28th  of  July. 


PROCEEDINGS. 


Agreeably  to  the  call  previously  issued  and  circu- 
lated, a  large  number  of  merchants,  bankers,  railroad 
officials,  and  others  interested  in  the  various  projects 
to  increase  the  facilities  of  intercourse  and  trade 
between  the  Atlantic  sea-board  and  the  interior  of 
the  continent,  as  well  as  with  ^e  Pacific  coast, 
Australia,  China,  Japan,  and  other  countries  of  Asia, 
assembled  in  the  city  of  Portland,  Maine,  on  Tuesday, 
the  4th  day  of  August,  1868,  to  consult  upon  the 
most  feasible  methods  of  securing  the  objects  sought 
to  be  attained.  The  two  extremes  of  the  continent 
were  represented,  and  very  many  of  the  prominent 
intermediate  places,  by  gentlemen  of  eminence  in 
their  several  communities,  thus  giving  to  the  Con- 
vention the  broad  and  general  character  contemplated 
by  its  projectors. 

The  Convention  met  in  the  City  Hall,  and  was 
called  to  order  at  eleven  o'clock  by  Hon.  Geo.  W. 
Woodman,  of  Portland,  who  said : 

I  have  been  requested,  in  the  absence  of  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  to  call 
this  Convention  to  order.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  it  gives  me  pleasure  to 
see  so  many  distinguished  gentlemen  present  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
It  would  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  occupy  any  time  in  addressing  you,  and 
I  will  therefore  take  the  liberty  to  nominate,  as  temporary  chairman  of 
this  Convention,  one  of  our  own  well-known  citizens,  John  Neal. 


12 

Mr.    Neal    was    unanimously   elected    temporary 
chairman,  and,  on  taking  his  seat,  said : 

Let  me  say  to  you,  my  friends,  that  this  is  a  somewhat  unexpected 
honor;  but  as  I  am  charged  with  the  duty  of  welcoming  you  here,  delegates 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast,  I  think  I  can  at  least  do  that.  I  do 
not  make  speeches,  and  as  you  are  men  of  business,  and  mean  business, 
you  will  not  expect  me  to  make  any  speech.  I  will  invite  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Harris,  of  Brunswick,  Maine,  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  to  invoke  the 
Divine  blessing  upon  our  deliberations. 


PRAYER  BY  REV.  SAMUEL  HARRIS,  D.  D. 

Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven,  we  humbly  acknowledge  our  dependence 
on  Thee  in  all  our  enterprises;  we  humbly  offer  Thee  our  praise  that  Thou 
art  our  Father — that  all  the  affairs  that  interest  us  are  of  interest  to  Thee. 
Thou  carest  for  us,  and  we  may  come  to  Thee  with  our  undertakings,  great 
to  us,  so  easy  to  Thee;  and  we  look  to  Thee  for  a  Father's  blessing,  We 
come  acknowledging  out  obligations,  in  all  our  business,  to  Thee.  Help  us 
to  consecrate  ourselves,  our  pawers,  and  all  that  we  undertake  to 
accomplish  for  the  development  of  the  resources  of  our  country  and  the 
advancement  of  the  interests  of  society,  to  Thee,  our  God.  The  abundance 
of  the  earth  and  the  fullness  of  the  seas  are  Thine;  the  powers  of  nature 
are  Thine.  Help  us  in  all  we  attempt  to  do  to  acknowledge  our  dependence 
and  our  obligations,  that  we  may  do  all  things  for  the  honor  of  God  and 
the  welfare  of  man.  May  thy  blessing  be  upon  this  Convention.  May  thy 
wisdom  guide  in  all  our  deliberations,  and  may  thy  blessing  attend  all  our 
undertakings.  And  we  humbly  ask  that  thy  blessing  may  be  upon  this 
State,  upon  all  the  States  of  this  Union,  and  upon  all  the  nations  with 
which  we  are  connected  in  the  relations  of  commerce  and  of  busine.ss. 
May  thy  blessing  be  upon  us  in  our  deliberations  to-day,  to  enable  us  so  to 
act  as  shall  result  in  advancing  the  spirit  of  fraternity  and  harmony  among 
nations,  in  restraining  war,  in  developing  the  powers  and  resources  of  the 
earth,  in  extending  the  comforts  of  life  among  men,  and  in  bringing  the 
nations  nearer  to  each  other,— always  in  obedience  to  the  principles  of 
justice,  of  truth,  of  right,  and  of  human  brotherhood.  May  thy  blessing 
be  upon  this  nation,  and  upon  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  opening  before 
them  a  career  of  prosperity  in  the  exercise  of  justice  and  the  arts  of  peace 
We  humbly  commit  ourselves,  and  our  meeting,  and  all  our  interests 
into  thy  hands,  and  invoke  thy  blessing,  through  Christ  our  Lord,— Amen. 


13 


ADDRESS    OF    THE   TEMPORARY    CHAIRMAN. 

Mr.  Neal  then  addressed  the  Convention  as  follows : 

Having  obtained,  as  I  trust,  the  blessing  we  ask  iij^on  our  deliberations, 
it  may  be  well  for  us  to  know  who  we  have  here.  I  am  informed  that 
we  have  representatives  present  from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  as  well  as 
from  the  farthest  Atlantic,  many  from  the  different  States  of  the  West,  from 
the  neighboring  Provinces, — portions  of  the  outlying  Dominions  of  the  great 
British  Empire, — leading  men  in  their  respective  localities,  who  rejoice 
with  us  to  look  upon  each  other's  faces,  and  to  deliberate  together  upon 
the  great  questions  likely  to  arise  here.  We  look  upon  this  city  of  Port- 
land as  a  sort  of  half-way  house,  and  we  claim  that  we  are  together,  not 
as  a  congress  of  communities,  not  even  as  a  congress  of  Boards  of  Trade, 
but  almost  as  a  congress  of  nations ;  and  that  if  our  deliberations  be  blessed, 
as  we  hope  they  will  be,  the  result  cannot  be  otherwise  than  favorable. 
We  are  proud  of  our  little  city.  We  have  been  working  with  great  zeal 
ever  since  the  fire,  and  if  we  go  on  in  our  enterprises,  as  contemplated  in 
the  call  of  the  Convention,  there  is  no  knowing  what  we  may  not  do,  or 
what  we  may  not  hope  for,  for  ourselves.  One  thing  is  certain,  the  great 
Eastern  world,  Japan,  China,  and  the  Indies,  and  all  Northern  Europe  (that 
Europe  with  which  we  are  best  acquainted)  must  be  brought  together  by 
a  system  of  railroads  and  ocean  navigation,  which  must  pass  by  the  most 
direct  line,  or  over  different  lines,  from  the  Atlantic  Coast  to  the  Pacific. 
In  this  Portland  will  take  her  share,  for  there  will  be  business  enough  for 
all. 

I  will  not  take  up  your  time  with  any  lengthy  speech,  knowing  you  to 
be,  as  I  said  at  the  outset,  men  of  business  and  meaning  business,  and 
therefore  I  wait  the  action  of  the  Convention. 

John  A.  Poor,  of  Portland,  moved  the  appoint- 
ment of  two  temporary  secretaries.  This  motion 
was  carried,  and  Hon.  Frederick  Robie,  of  Gorham, 
Me.,  and  Hon.  0.  F.  Fowler,  of  Bristol,  JST.  H.,  were 
elected. 

James  L.  Farmer,  of  Portland,  moved  that  a  com- 
mittee of  five  on  permanent  ofiicers  and  on  credentials 
be  appointed,  and  the  following  gentlemen  were  elect- 
ed as  such  committee : 

J.  L.  Farmer,  of  Portland ;  P.  S.  Hamilton,  of  Hal- 


14 

ifax ;  W.  J.  Patterson,  of  Montreal ;  W.  H.  Craig,  of 
Detroit ;  H.  T.  Blow,  of  St.  Louis. 
Mr.  Poor  then  said : 

AVhile  the  Committee  are  engaged  in  their  labors,  I  have  no  doubt  the 
delegates  present  would  be  happy  to  listen  to  some  gentleman  from 
some  part  of  the  continent  in  relation  to  the  objects,  purposes,  and  plans 
which  have  called  us  together.  I  will,  therefore,  take  the  liberty  to  call 
upon  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Taylor,  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota, — not  from  the  extrem- 
ity, but  from  the  heart  of  the  continent, — to  address  us,  I  know  he  is  in 
attendance,  for  he  has  come  all  the  way  from  St.  Paul  to  take  part  in  the 
deliberations  of  this  Convention. 

Mr.  Taylor  not  being  in  the  Hall  at  the  moment, 
the  Chairman  requested  Mr.  Poor  to  suggest  the 
name  of  some  other  gentleman,  and  Mr.  Poor  called 
upon  Senator  Corbett,  of  Portland,  Oregon. 

Senator  Corbett  came  forward  to  the  platform,  and 
was  received  with  hearty  applause.  He  addressed 
the  Convention  as  follows : 

SPEECH  OF    HON.  H.  W.  CORBETT. 

Oentlemen  of  the  Convention, — Being  a  business-man,  and  not  a  man  elect- 
ed for  my  speaking  qualities,  my  remarks  will  be  very  brief.  I  am  but  little 
acquainted  with  the  objects  of  this  meeting,  except  so  far  as  I  have  seen 
them  set  forth  in  the  circular  which  has  been  forwarded  me,  and  which  I 
have  examined,  and  approve.  The  object  of  this  Convention,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  is,  to  bring  the  people  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  nearer 
together  by  railroad  communications,  and  to  turn  the  ijreat  tide  of  trade 
from  the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  China  and  Japan,  to  the  nearest  point  of 
shipment  on  the  Atlantic  coast;  and  as  I  understand  that  Portland,  Maine, 
lies  at  that  point  where  that  trade  should  diverge  ui)on  the  Atlantic  or  to 
the  most  direct  line  to  the  Pacific,  I  have  come  here  as  a  representative 
from  Portland,  Oregon,  in  order  to  shake  hands  with  the  peoi)le  of 
Portland,  Maine.  (Applause.)  Our  place  was  named  after  Portland, 
Maine.  It  is  a  point  in  which  I  feel  a  very  great  interest.  I  have  been  a 
resident  of  that  place  nearly  eighteen  years.  I  went  there  as  a  young 
man  from  New  York.  Born  in  Massachusetts,  a  child  of  New  England,  I 
went  there  in  order  to  develop  the  resources  of  that  great  State,  and  of 
that  portion  of  the  continent  where  lies  the  hidden  wealth  of  mountains 


15 

of  iron,  of  coal,  of  gold  and  silver,  and  all  the  precious  metals  that 
contribute  to  the  wealth  of  a  great  nation, — to  say  nothing  of  our  agricul- 
tural products,  "We  claim  it  as  one  of  the  greatest  States  of  the  Union. 
Our  cereal  products  have  drawn  the  attention  of  the  world.  We  are  now 
shipping  from  the  Pacific  coast  large  quantities  of  breadstuffs,  perhaps 
larger,  in  proportion  to  our  population,  than  any  other  part  of  our  country. 
Our  exports  of  grain  from  the  Pacific  nearly  equals  in  value  the  products 
of  the  gold-fields  of  California,  Oregon,  and  Idah?).  Some  of  the  finest 
cereals  in  the  world  are  now  shipped  from  Oregon  to  Europe  and  China. 
"We  are  opening  a  large  trade  with  the  six  hundred  millions  of  people  in 
China,  who  have  been  practically  excluded  from  our  Pacific  coast  until 
within  the  past  few  years.  We  have  now,  on  the  Pacific  coast,  a  population 
from  China  of  fifty  or  seventy-five  thousand.  We  have  lately  concluded  a 
treaty  with  that  nation  which  will  secure  the  confidence  and  regard  of  the 
people,  open  the  country  to  commerce,  and  bring  that  vast  empire  into 
the  family  of  nations.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  also  lead  to  an  extensive 
emigration,  not  only  to  the  Pacific,  but  to  the  Atlantic  coast. 

We,  on  the  Pacific  side,  have  a  vast  country,  quite  as  large,  or  exceeding 
in  area,  that  upon  the  Atlantic.  We  are  thinly  settled  as  yet;  our  means 
are  limited,  but  we  are  doing  all  we  can  to  advance  the  interests  of  that 
coast, — putting  our  little  means  together,  and  building  our  railroads  as  fast 
as  we  are  able.  But  we  cannot  hope  to  accomplish  great  results  without 
the  help  of  the  older  States;  and,  therefore,  I  felt  that  I  might  contribute 
some  little  to  the  interest  of  this  Convention  by  coming  here  and  explain- 
ing, as  far  as  I  could,  the  wants  and  necessities  of  that  country.  We  have, 
as  you  are  all  aware,  one  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world.  Puget  Sound 
is  not  excelled  by  any  harbor.  The  largest  class  of  vessels  can  enter  there. 
It  lies  directly  in  the  line  of  trade  between  China  and  Japan  and  the  main 
seaports  of  the  Atlantic.  A  railroad,  built  directly  to  that  point,  will 
shorten  the  time  between  China  and  Japan  and  the  Atlantic  coast  some 
three  days,  and  that  is  a  very  important  point  in  directing  the  trade  of  that 
great  empire  which  is  now  being  opened  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  and 
through  this  country  to  Europe.  It  will  bring  us  to  the  notice  of  those 
countries,  and  attract  the  emigration  and  travel  that  are  constantly  pass- 
ing from  China  to  Europe,  and  from  Europe  to  China,  through  this  coun- 
try, and  will  have  the  effect,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  bring  the  entire  trade  of 
those  countries  through  that  portion  of  our  territory.  We  have  a  railroad 
already  constructed  through  a  pass  in  the  Cascade  range  of  mountains, 
where  the  Columbia  Eiver  breaks  through,  the  grade  of  which  does  not 
exceed  thirty  feet  to  the  mile,  and  about  five  hundred  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  corresponding  to  the  grade  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  of  eight  thous- 
and feet,  which  is  covered  with  snow  up  to  May,  and  sometimes  into  June. 
This  pass  through  the  Cascade  range  is  never  obstructed.  There  has  never 
been  a  time,  to  my  knowledge,  when  the  railroad  was  obstructed  since  it 
was  built.    The  country,  through  which  this  road  passes,  is  well  wooded 


16 

and  watered,  and  the  land  of  the  finest  quality  for  agricultural  purposes 
It  is  for  you  to  determine  whether  this  country  shall  be  developed ;  whether 
we  shall  be  able  to  build  a  line  across  to  Puget  Sound,  and  thus  bring  our- 
selves into  communication  with  Portland  here,  some  three  or  four  days 
earlier  than  we  can  be  brought  by  any  line  now  being  constructed, — there- 
by creating  a  competition  which  will  make  our  freights  cheaper  between 
the  two  oceans,  a  competition  which  will  be  healthy,  and  which  will  build 
up  cities  in  that  portiorf  of  the  country  corresponding  to  those  here  in  New 
England. 

I  trust  that  we  shall  bear  from  other  gentlemen  who  are  members  of  this 
Convention,  and  who  know  more  of  this  subject  than  I  do.  I  can  only 
say  to  you,  that  we  in  Oregon  have  a  country  as  large  in  extent  as  all  New 
England.  Oregon,  Washington  Territory,  and  Idaho,  are  as  large  as  New 
England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  and  perhai)ssome  other 
State  in  addition.  You  can  realize  by  this  fact  the  vast  extent  of  that 
country.  It  is  the  choicest  agricultural  land;  the  finest  grain-growing 
region;  there  are  iron  and  timber  in  abundance;  there  are  gold  and  silver 
mines.  All  these  are  to  be  developed,  and  it  is  for  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
Convention,  to  determine  what  steps  shall  be  taken  to  develop  these  great 
resources.  I  will,  therefore,  give  way  for  other  gentlemen  of  the  Conven- 
tion to  explain  to  you  more  fully  its  objects.    (Applause.) 

The  Chairman.  Of  course  you  must  all  have  been 
very  much  struck  with  the  testimony  given  by 
Senator  Corbett.  We  begin  with  Portland  here, 
and  end  with  Portland  there,  so  that  Portland 
becomes,  not  the  terminus  merely,  but  the  terminii, 
and  by  hearing  gentlemen  from  the  intermediate 
points,  we  shall  become  acquainted  with  the  resources 
of  the  country  all  along  the  line.  There  are  gentle- 
men here  representing  Boards  of  Trade,  men  engaged 
in  railroad  enterprises,  commercial  men,  bankers  and 
others,  who  must,  of  course,  furnish  us  with  the  facts 
we  are  looking  for,  which  will  tend  to  confirm  us  in 
our  conviction  that  there  is  a  passage-way  now 
opening  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  that 
we  are  upon  that  route.  Many  of  you,  too,  represent 
portions  of  the  country  through  which  this  line  of 


17 

railroad  must  pass,  and  of  course  you  must  feel  a 
corresponding  interest  in  regard  to  the  movement 
here,  which  is  but  the  beginning. 

Gen.  P.  T.  Washburne,  of  Woodstock,  Yt.,  said, — 
There  is  a  gentleman  here  who  has  given  the  various 
subjects  embraced  in  this  call  long  and  careful  study, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  every  delegate  present  will 
be  instructed  and  interested  in  listening  to  the  results 
of  his  labors.  I  refer  to  the  Hon.  E.  H.  Derby,  of 
Boston. 

The  Chairman.  We  shall  be  very  glad  to  hear  from 
Mr.  Derby.     (Applause.) 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  E.  H.  DERBY. 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen,— I  am  indebted  for  the  honor  of  this  call 
to  the  courtesy  of  the  gentleman  from  Vermont,  with  whom  I  had  an  early- 
acquaintance ;  and  I  presume  he  has  called  upon  me  because  I  represent, 
on  this  occasion,  to  some  extent,  the  State  of  Vermont,  as  well  as  the  States 
of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  for  I  come  here  as  a  delegate  from 
the  great  line  of  communication  which,  on  Monday  next.  Mill  be  opened 
between  Portland  and  the  city  of  Troy,  N.Y.,  by  which  the  journey  from 
this  city  west  will  be  shortened  forty  miles ;  diverging  from  one  of  your 
present  routes  at  Lawrence,  touching  at  Lowell,  intersecting  at  Groton,  and 
passing,  by  the  way  of  Greenfield,  on  to  Troy  by  the  new  line ;  without 
surmounting  the  summits  of  the  Green  Mountains  or  Adirondac's,  but 
passing  under  a  mountain,  makes  the  most  easy  and  direct  communication 
with  the  West.  It  is  a  line  which  is  not  to  terminate  at  Troy,  but  which  is 
eventually  to  run  to  Oswego  and  along  the  level  shores  of  Lake  Ontario, 
onward  to  the  Susi>ension  Bridge,  and  by  it  the  distance  from  Portland  to 
Lake  Ontario  will  be  but  four  hundred  miles.  The  distance  from  Portland 
to  Suspeusion  Bridge  will  be  but  525  miles,  and  we  shall  thus  make  as 
direct  and  easy  a  route  as  can  be  made  for  communication  with  the  great 
Lakes.  That  i.s  the  interest  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  (Applause.) 
It  is  true,  a  little  difficulty  still  intervenes,— about  three  miles  of  the 
mountain  remain  to  be  removed.  But  "faith  removes  mountains;"  they 
bow  their  heads  and  give  way  before  the  persevering  spirit.  Massachusetts 
is  the  mother  not  only  of  her  fair  daughter,  Maine,  but  of  the  railroad 
2 


18 

system  of  the  country.  We  built  the  first  line  of  railroad  in  Quincy  long 
before  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  or  the  Albany  and  Schenectady 
Bailroad  was  built.  We  built  the  first  railway,  as  we  built  the  first  canal; 
and  to-day  Massachusetts,  having  loaned  her  money  to  the  Western 
Railway  and  to  other  great  enterprises,  exults  in  what  she  has  done.  She 
plumes  herself  upon  all  her  daughters, — upon  her  daughter  Maine,  and 
not  less  upon  her  railways,  by  which  she  secures  communication  with 
that  daughter.  To-day,  her  average  railway  return  is  818,000  a  mile  of 
gross  income  upon  her  investment.  She  lent  her  bonds  at  five  per  cent, 
and  to-day  she  receives  an  average  net  revenue  of  nine  or  ten  per  cent 
upon  her  investment,  besides  the  benefit  of  the  millions  of  dollars  that 
have  been  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  State.  To-day,  she  has  one  hundred 
millions  invested  in  railways  in  the  State,  and  still  more  invested  outside 
the  State.  Her  investment  outside  of  Massachusetts  is  larger  than  that 
in  it,  and  by  means  of  her  investment  in  railways,  she  has  become  one  of 
the  strongest  States  of  the  Union,  for  the  savings  banks  of  Massachusetts 
to-day  alone  have  an  amount  of  deposits  which  exceeds  the  whole 
valuation  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  (Applause.)  Dropping  the 
hammer  and  the  hand-drill,  the  miner  grasps  the  four  elements  of  air, 
earth,  fire,  and  water  to  perforate  the  mountain,  and  will  finish  her  task 
before  your  great  line  is  completed. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  did  not  come  here  to-day  to  eulogize  my  own  State;  I 
came  here  to  represent  the  great  line  of  railway  to  which  I  have  referred, 
and  to  wish  God-speed  to  the  enterprises  of  the  State  of  Maine,— all  of 
them.  Wliether  they  point  to  Vermont,  or  whether  they  point  eastward 
to  the  British  Provinces,  I  bid  them  all  God-speed ;  yes,  every  one  of  them. 
And,  first,  let  me  say  a  word  for  the  European  and  North  American 
Railway.  We  consider  that  almost  a  Massachusetts  enterprise.  Our 
State  has  made  its  contribution  to  that  road, — has  given  it  a  lift.  I  trust  it 
is  to  succeed.  We  regard  it  not  merely  as  a  local  enterprise,  to  connect 
the  Penobscot  with  St,  John,  but  as  a  line  to  connect  the  United  States 
with  Canada,  with  New  Brunswick,  with  Nova  Scotia,  with  Cape  Breton 
and  Newfoundland,  and  as  the  great  highway  of  nations.  They  talk  of  an 
"intercolonial"  or  "international"  line.  The  great  international,  the 
continental  line,  is  the  European  and  North  American  Railway,  com- 
bining many  lines  of  traffic  and  many  lines  of  travel,  and,  when  completed, 
forming  a  link  in  that  great  chain  which  eventually,  commencing  at  Heart's 
Content  or  Placentia  Bay,  or  some  other  point  on  the  remote  island  of 
Newfoundland  (and  those  names  are  appropriate  for  the  triumphs  of  peace, 
if  not  of  war),  is  to  come  onward  by  Shediac  and  St.  John  to  Bangor  and 
Portland.  The  passenger,  who  shall  have  passed  in  five  daj-s  from  the 
Cove  of  Cork  to  Placentia  Bay,  in  one  day  more  will  reach  Portland. 
Diverging  here,  he  will  go  to  Montreal  by  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad 
(which  I  hope  to  see  resuscitated  and  improved),  or  to  Rutland  by  the 
inland  line  -which  I  trust  you  will  build,  or  onward,  by  Lawrence  and 


19 

Lowell,  to  Groton  and  Greenfield,  and  thence  to  Lake  Ontario,  or  in  that 
direction.  In  one  day  from  Placentia  Bay  he  reaches  Portland;  in  another 
day,  some  point  near  Suspension  Bridge;  and  so  passing  onward,  by  the 
Central  or  North  Pacific  line,  he  will  reach  California  or  Oregon,  or,  beyond 
Oregon,  the  Straits  of  Fuca,  at  the  harbor  which  the  gentleman  from 
Oregon  has  depicted  here  [Puget  Sound].  Thus,  in  five  or  six  days,  the 
passenger  passes  from  Portland  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  In  fourteen 
days  more,  he  will  land  in  Japan,  and  in  two  days  more,  in  that  great 
nation  which  our  Mr.  Burlingame,  another  son  of  Massachusetts,  is  to-day 
uniting  with  the  great  family  of  nations.  (Applause.)  This  is  the  object 
we  desire  to  accomplish. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  want  the  European  and  North  American  Railway 
built,  and  I  hope  that  the  resolutions  which  will  be  passed  by  this  Conven- 
tion will  subserve  that  end;  audi  feel  to-day  that  I  am  addressing,  not 
merely  the  State  of  Maine,  or  Massachusetts,  or  Vermont,  so  well  repre- 
sented here  by  my  distinguished  friend.  General  Washburne,  but  I  feel 
that  I  am  addressing  the  continent  of  North  America.  (Applause.)  I  go 
for  a  continental  line.  We  had  an  old  continental  line  years  ago  which 
rendered  signal  service  to  the  country;  I  go  for  a  continental  line  to-day. 
That  is  the  enterprise  which  I  am  here  to  advocate ;  and,  sir,  the  European 
and  North  American  Railway  is  a  part  of  that  continental  line.  We  hear 
it  intimated  that  it  is  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  have  a  military  road 
down  by  Miramichi,  or  somewhere  near  the  borders  of  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence ;  that  she  avows  it  to  be  her  policy,  in  her  arrangements  with 
her  colonies,  to  raise  twenty  millions,  by  the  joint  credit  of  both,  for  the 
construction  of  a  military  road.  I  am  not  an  advocate  for  political  roads. 
I  go  for  the  roads  which  commerce  and  peace  demand;  and  that  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  a  route  which  either  commerce  or  peace  requires.  And 
when  I  think  what  might  be  accomplished  by  twenty  millions  of  dollars, 
at  three  or  four  and  a  half  per  cent  interest,  in  perfecting  the  improve- 
ments we  have  planned,  or  already  have  in  operation,  I  feel  a  strong  solici- 
tude that  the  voice  of  this  continent  shall  be  heard  in  England,  and  that 
we  should  speak  here,  in  loud  and  strong  terms,as  representing  North  Amer- 
ica in  this  continental  convention,  to  secure  the  appropriation  to  continental 
lines  of  that  twenty  millions  of  dollars.  I  had  occasion,  not  very  long 
since,  to  make  the  passage  to  Halifax  with  one  of  the  ministers  of  Canada, 
with  whom  I  discussed  this  question.  Said  I,  "  My  friend,  I  beg  you,  when 
you  land  in  England  and  go  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  to  remember  that 
you  speak  not  merely  for  Canada,  but  that  you  speak  for  the  continent; 
for  whatever  we  may  think  to-day,  or  whatever  may  happen  to-morrow, 
there  is  no  man,  I  presume,  on  this  continent,  who  has  not  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  at  some  day  the  two  countries  will  be  merged  in  one ;  that 
either  the  Canadas  will  take  us,  or  we  shall  welcome  the  Canadas. 
(Laughter  and  applause. )  Recollect,"  said  I,  "  when  you  discuss  this  great 
question  of  the  railway  loan  on  the  other  side,  that  you  are  not  merely  a 


20 

Canadian,  but  an  American;  that  you  speak  for  the  whole  continent;  and 
that,  if  this  money  is  to  be  raised,  on  the  joint  credit  of  England  and  her 
provinces  on  this  continent,  it  should  be  so  applied  as  to  benefit  this  conti- 
nent. And  why  will  you  not  say  to  the  lady  who  presides  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water,  who  is  our  friend,  and  the  friend  of  the  human  race,  that 
if  she  wishes  a  military  road,  she  should  assume  its  construction,  and  the 
Provinces  will  guarantee  her  note?  Because,  if  you  sign  the  note,  and  she 
builds  the  road,  if  she  makes  a  mistake,  you  may  have  to  pay  the  amount, 
and  I  prefer  that  America  should  be  the  indorsee  rather  than  the  princi- 
pal." It  was  in  this  jesting  way  that  I  spoke  to  the  Canadian  minister,  but 
you  know  a  true  word  may  sometimes  be  spoken  in  jest  A  military  road  is 
not  wanted.  What  American  wishes  for  it?  If  Canatla  ever  unites  with 
this  country,  it  must  be  a  union  of  hearts;  it  mu.st  be  a  connection  of  affin- 
ities, a  confederation  of  commerce  and  trade.  A  Canadian  gentleman  said 
to  a  meeting  in  Boston,  some  years  ago  (I  refer  to  Hon.  Joseph  Howe), 
"  You  have  attempted  to  invade  Canada,  and  have  not  been  successful. 
You  have  made  a  mistake.  Let  me  advise  you,  when  you  try  it  again,  to 
put  the  ladies  in  front;  you  will  then  be  sure  to  conquer."  I  prefer,  as  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  that  we  should  follow  the  advice  of  Mr.  Howe. 
When  the  Provinces  extend  their  hands,  we  will  grasp  them,  and  then, 
"  whom  God  has  joined,  let  no  man  put  asunder."    (Applause.) 

I  will  detain  ydu,  gentlemen,  but  a  moment  or  two  longer.  I  have  one 
or  two  general  suggestions  to  make,  which  I  make  with  pleasure.  I  would 
have  the  voice  of  this  convention  heard  over  the  whole  United  States.  I 
would  have  it  heard  in  England.  We  want  the  aid,  in  our  various  enter- 
prises, not  merely  of  Maine,  not  merely  of  Massachusetts,  we  want  the  aid 
of  the  United  States,  we  want  the  aid  of  the  Provinces,  we  want  the  aid  of 
Great  Britain,  whose  coffers  are  overflowing.  The  European  and  North 
American  Railway  is  to  connect  Great  Britain  and  the  Provinces  with  the 
United  States.  While  the  military  road,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  may 
answer  in  time  of  war,  for  a  special  and  momentary  purpose,  the  road  I 
have  the  honor  to  support  will  answer  the  daily  purposes  of  peace.  It 
combines  not  only  the  traffic  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  and 
Prince  Edward  Island  ( that  fair  i.slandof  the  ocean  which  ^e  all  admire), 
it  combines  not  only  the  traffic  of  these  places  with  Maine  and  Massachu- 
setts, but  it  connects  the  continent  of  Europe  with  the  great  West.  We  are, 
gentlemen,  to  see  the  passengers  who  are  now  landed  at  New  York,  land 
at  Newfoundland  or  Nova  Scotia, — perhaps  at  Louisbourg,  with  which  Mas- 
sachusetts was,  in  her  early  history,  an  honorable  connection, — we  are  to 
see  these  passengers  landed  there,  and  passing  onward  by  this  great  line 
to  the  West.  And  Europe  is  interested  in  this,  for  she  sends  out  her  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  emigrants  every  year,  for  whom  we  provide  farms 
in  the  wilderness.  This  great  tide  of  travel  is  to  be  turned  upon  this  rail- 
way, and  for  this  we  invoke  not  only  the  aid  of  States  and  provinces,  but 
of  England,  for  it  will  benefit  her  commerce  and  her  subjects  if  we  facili- 


21 

tate  intercourse  between  the  two  countries.  I  desire,  therefore,  a  portion 
of  the  twenty  millions  for  the  completion  of  that  line  which  is  placed 
where  it  is  wanted.  Then,  if  a  canal  is  wanted  across  the  head  of  the  Bay 
of  Fundy,  across  the  isthmus,  I  ask  a  portion  for  that.  And  then,  more 
than  that,  I  ask  for  a  ship  canal  which  shall  turn  the  waters  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Ottawa,  through  Canadian  territory,  into  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  there  to  connect  the  railway  system  of  Massachusetts,  which  has 
already  struck  the  shores  of  the  lake,  with  Boston  and  Portland.  You  all 
know,  that  by  the  great  steamers  on  the  lake,  freight  and  passengers  can 
be  carried  at  lower  rates  even  than  by  railway,  and  I  would  have  those 
great  steamers  meet  the  railways  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  as 
well  as  Ontario,  and  send  their  freight  to  New  York,  Boston,  or  Portland; 
and  for  that  purpose  we  must  have  a  canal  from  Lake  Champlain  to  the 
St.  Lawrence.  We  want  it  to  bring  the  timber  from  Canada  down  to  Bos- 
ton and  Portland.  Then  we  want  to  deepen  the  canals  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  enlarge  its  locks,  to  facilitate  that  communication.  And  then  we  must 
have  a  ship  canal  around  the  falls  of  Niagara,  for  which  Vermont,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  New  Hampshire  will  all  lift  their  voices,  and  give  to  it  their 
cordial  support.  We  want,  then,  the  North  Pacific  Railway,  which  has 
been  alluded  to  this  morning,  in  order  to  connect  with  Oregon,  and  also 
with  the  Red  River  and  Saskatchawan,  our  new  acquisition  of  Alaska. 
It  is  already  in  progress.  And,  in  this  connection,  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
saying  to  you,  that  the  morning  papers  announce  the  discovery,  near 
Sitka,  of  a  vein  of  anthracite  coal,  twenty  feet  in  thickness.  It  is 
fortunate  that  the  title  to  this  territory  has  passed  to  the  United  States, 
and  that  the  money  has  been  paid,  for  I  venture  to  say,  that  such  a  coal- 
bank  will  pay  the  whole  purchase-money,  and  fully  warrant  the 
acquisition. 

These,  gentlemen,  are  the  great  improvements  which  we  require.  But 
before  I  leave  the  platform,  permit  me  to  say  there  is  something  more  than 
all  this  which  we  require.  We  require  the  restoration  of  amity  between 
the  British  Empire  and  the  United  States,  (^.pplause.)  We  require  that 
the  different  questions  which  have  sprung  up,  growing  out  of  the  late  war, 
shall  be  wisely  settled.  We  require  redress  trom  England,  and  I  trust 
that  redress  will  be  given  cheerfully;  and  then,  gentlemen,  we  want  free 
trade  with  the  Provinces.  I  hope  that  you  will  not  understand  me  as 
speaking  ofl&cially  here,  because  I  have  had  an  ofiicial  connection  with 
the  Government  in  regard  to  the  question  of  reciprocity;  but  I  speak  as  a 
citizen,  as  a  delegate  from  a  line  of  railway,  ahd  in  that  capacity  only. 
But  I  trust  to  live  to  see  the  day  when  every  frontier  post  and  every 
custom-house  along  our  northern  frontier  shall  be  obliterated  (applause); 
when  no  question  of  the  protection  of  coal  or  iron  in  Pennsylvania,  or  of 
lumber  in  your  forests,  will  serve  to  restrict  our  intercourse  with  the 
British  Provinces.  Coal  and  lumber,  the  natural  products  of  our  country, 
require  no  protection,  they  protect  themselves.     Agriculture  requires  no 


22 

protection.  In  a  country  like  ours,  where  we  donate  farms,  charging 
neither  for  the  rent  nor  the  fee,  agriculture  requires  no  protection.  I  hope 
to  live  to  see  the  day  when  there  shall  be  free  trade  and  free  commerce 
between  the  British  Provinces  of  North  America  and  the  United  States. 
(Applause.)  That,  sir,  is  the  doctrine  I  advocate;  and  I  tell  my  friends  on 
the  other  side  the  water,  that  the  sooner  they  settle  their  questions  with 
the  United  States,  the  sooner  that  happy  time  will  arrive.  We  are  all 
for  it. 

I  hope,  before  I  leave  this  meeting,  to  submit  a  few  resolutions  in  which 
we  shall  advocate  the  results  I  have  ventured  to  picture  in  this  off-hand 
speech.  1  wish  to  present  the  idea  that  we  are  not  to  be  content  until  our 
great  works  are  finished.  So  far  as  the  railway  I  represent  is  concerned, 
we  ask  no  aid.  Massachusetts  has  put  her  hands  into  her  pockets  and 
taken  out  five  millions,  and  appropriated  them  to  the  completion  of  our 
enterprises;  and  she  will  have  her  rewarti  ten-fold  for  that  act  of  magna- 
nimity, performed  in  spite  of  local  opposition.  All  these  great  enteri^rises 
meet  with  local  opposition.  This  line,  which  I  represent,  has  encountered 
bitter  opposition,  because  its  tendency  will  be  to  build  up  the  town  of 
Greenfield,  to  move  Springfield  up  to  Greenfield.  The  people  of  Spring- 
field are  averse  to  the  change.  They  are  reluctant  to  see  a  great 
commercial  center  spring  up  at  Greenfield,  some  forty  miles  beyond 
them.  So  you  hear  from  them,  through  the  Boston  papers,  that  the 
tunnel  will  never  be  comjileted,  that  the  State  has  been  corrupted.  If  so, 
it  has  corrupted  itself,  for  it  alone  has  had  money  to  spare  when  it  guaran- 
teed the  five  millions.  This  pitiful  local  opposition  will  die  away.  A 
similar  opposition  may  assail  your  enterprises;  but  have  courage;  be  of 
good  cheer.  I  entertain  the  belief  that  every  railway,  wherever  it  has 
been  built,  will  eventually  be  successful.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time. 
That  has  been  the  experience  of  the  last  thirty  years,  during  which  period 
I  have  been  identified,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  with  railway  enterprises. 
I  have  entire  faith  in  their  eventual  success,  and  I  believe  it  ^\nll  be  the 
polity  of  Maine  aud  New  Hampshire— I  believe  it  should  have  been  the 
policy  of  Vermont,  and  ought  now  to  be  her  jKJlicy — to  advance  her  five 
per  cent  bonds  in  support  of  these  enterprises,  and  trust  for  her  recom- 
pense to  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  State. 

Thanking  you  for  the  courtesy  with  which  you  have  listened  to  these 
very  desultory  remarks,  I  hasten  to  conclude. 

Mr.  Farmer,  from  the  Committee  on  Credentials  and 
Permanent  Organization,  reported  that  there  were 
delegates  and  invited  guests  present  from  the  British 
North  America  Provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick, Prince  Edward  Island,  Quebec,  and  Ontario ; 


23 


and  from  the  States  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ver- 
mont, Massachusetts,  New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  lUinois,  Missouri,  Oregon,  and  Minnesota,  and 
from  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  that  205  had 
already  been  entered  upon  the  books  as  entitled  to 
seats  in  the  Convention.  Thereupon,  it  was  voted 
that  the  Committee  have  leave  to  report  further  as 
additional  delegates  shall  arrive. 

The  number  of  delegates  entered  upon  the  books 
of  the  Convention  as  being  in  attendance,  and  entitled 
to  take  part  in  its  proceedings,  was  rising  three 
hundred,  the  list  of  which  is  as  follows  : 


Adams,  John  M. 
Ayer,  Caleb  R. 
Anderson,  John  F. 
Almy,  James  F. 
Alley,  John  B. 
Arnold,  Isaac  N. 
Anderson,  R.  H. 
Adams,  N.  W. 
Allen,  Thomas, 
Brown,  John  B. 
Boynton,  Amrai, 
Blazo,  Eben'r, 
Bell,  Samuel  N. 
Boynton,  Henry, 
Brooks,  Erastus, 
Blow,  Henry  T. 
Blackadar,  H.  W. 
Beede,  John  W. 
Baker,  S.  C. 
Bingham,  A.  W. 
Berry,  W.  A. 
Babbillion,  John, 
Brown,  James  S. 
Bemis,  Loren, 
Brewster,  Eli  V. 


Portland,  Me. 
Cornish,    " 
Windham,    " 
Salem,  Mass. 

Lynn,    " 
Chicago,  111. 
Detroit,  Mich. 
Porter,  Me. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Portland,  Me. 
Cornish,    " 
Parsonsfield,    " 
Manchester,  N.  H. 
Woodstock,  Vt. 
New  York. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Halifax,  N.  S. 
Meredith  Vil.,  N.  H. 
Ashland,     " 
Bristol,     " 

Detroit,  Mich. 
Plymouth,  Vt. 
<<  (( 

Dover.  N.  H. 


Brecken,  Fred.     Charlottestown,  P.  E.  I. 
Bradbury,  H.  K.  Hollis,  Me. 

Bailey,  Hon.  B.  C.  Bath,    " 

Blake,  Hon,  Samuel  H,  Bangor,    " 


Betts,  William,  Esq, 
Baker,  D.  W. 
Baird,  H. 
Bingham,  C.  W. 
Benson,  Hon.  S.  P. 
Banks,  Henry  J. 
Baker,  James  M. 
Blanchard,  C.  B. 
Bennett,  John, 
Carroll,  John  B. 
Clapp,  A.  W,  H. 
Clark,  Lewis  W. 
Cilley,  Col.  B.  P. 
Clarke,  John  B. 
Chapman,  Geo.  R. 
Corbett,  Hon.  H.  W. 
Carey,  Theophilus, 
Crawford,  Geo.  T. 
Carleton,  S.  L. 
Converse,  Jos.  H. 
Carpenter,  George  O 
Craig,  W.  H. 
Carr,  S.  T. 
Chase,  Thomas, 
Carter,  Buel  C. 
Corser,  S.  T. 
Cutting,  Amos, 
Cook,  John, 
Cain,  John, 


Montreal,  P.  Q. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Chittenden,  Vt. 
Pittsfield,    " 
Brunswick,  Me. 
W.  Ossipee,  N.  H. 
Meredith,     " 
Sandwich  Center,  " 
Parsonsfield,  Me. 
Portland,    " 


Manchester,  N.  H. 


Woodstock,  Vt. 
Portland,  Oregon. 
Houlton,  Me. 
Bristol,  N.  H. 
Portland,  Me. 
Boston,  Mass. 

Detroit,  Mich. 
Jackson,  " 
Nashua,  N.  H. 
Ossipee,  " 
Portland,  Me. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Rutland,  Vt. 


24 


Clark.  Cyrus  S.  PorUand,  Me. 
Chellis,  Gen.  David  T.         Newfield,    " 

Carter,  S.  B.  Ossipee,  N.  H. 

Clough,  Timothy  E.  Danbury,     " 
Coe,  Curtis  S.          Center  Harbor,     " 

Deering,  William,  Portland,  Me, 

Dana,  Charles,  Woodstock,  Vt, 

Dwinal,  Rufus  Bangor,  Me. 

DoUoff,  A.  Bristol,  N.  H. 
Dyer,  William,       New  Hampton,     " 

Davis,  J.  M.  Kezar  Falls,  Me. 

Dewey,  Albert  G.  Hartford,  Vt. 

Dup>ee,  James  A.  Boston,  Mass. 
Derby,  E.  H. 

Deane,  Henry  P.  Portland,  Me. 

Davis,  Hon.  Woodbury  "           " 

Dunn,  Reuben  B.  Waterville,    " 

Drake,  Geo.  S.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Dana,  Woodbury  S.  Portland,  Me. 
Dow,  F.  N. 

Davis,  Geo.  T.  ..           «< 

Ellis,  J.  V.  St.  John,  N.  B. 

Eaton,  8.  W.  Gorham,  Me. 

Edgar,  J.  C.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Edmunds,  L.  Chittenden,  Vt. 

Emmons,  John  H.  Hill,  N.  H. 
Emerson,  Samuel,    New  Hampton,     " 

Farmer,  James  L.  Portland,  Me. 

Fessenden,  Hon.  Wm.  P.  "           " 

Fobes,  Charles,  "           " 

Foster,  N.  A.  "           " 

Fling,  Henry,  "            " 

French,  Warren  C.  Woodstock,  Vt. 

Foote,  Caleb,  Salem,  Mass. 

Fowler,  O.  F.  Bristol,  N.  H. 

Fisk,  C.  B.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Folsom,  Hon.  Geo.  New  York. 

Fisher,  Hon.  Chas.  Fredcrickton,  N.  B. 

Fling,  Lewis  W.  Bristol,  N.  H. 

Fellows,  E.  Q.,  Sand^vich,     " 

French,  James  Moultonboro,     " 

Gayle,  E.  F,  W.  Salem,  Mass, 

Gibbes,  Hon.  T.  M.  Oshawa,  Ontario. 

Gray,  Joel,  Embden,  Me. 

Godfrey,  John  E.  Bangor,    " 

Gilman,  C.  J.  Brunswick,    " 

Glasgow,  E.  J.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Gould,  Moses,  Portland,  Me. 

Hatch,  Freeman,  "           " 

Haines,  Allen,  "           " 


Hersey,  T.  C.  Portland,  Me. 

Howard,  Joseph  "            " 

Hanson,  Samuel,  Buxton,    " 
Harrington,  Hon.  E.W.  M'nch'ter,  N.  H. 

Haven,  Edwin,  Woodstock,  Vt. 

Hersey,  S.  F.  Bangor,  Me. 

Harris,  Samuel,  Brunswick,    " 

Hamilton,  Pierce  S.  Halifax.  N.  S. 

Heard,  Mr.  P.  E.  Island. 

Hoyt,  G.  G.  Meredith,  N.  H. 

Hughes,  Thomas  N.  Ashland,     " 

Hatch,  I'hilo,  Woodstock,  Vt. 

Hatch,  Alvin,  "             " 

Hall,  Joshua  G.  Dover,  N.  H. 

Hill,  Hamilton  A.  Boston,  Mass. 

Hubbard,  T.  H.  Biddeford,  Me. 

Hutchins,  W.  F.  Boston,  Mass. 

Huntington,  W.  M.  Rochester,  Vt. 

Hoskinson,  R.  Mount  Holly,    " 

Hoskinson,  J.  R.  "               " 

Haskell.  C.  H.  Portland,  Me, 

Hubbard,  N.  Tamworth,  N.  H. 

Hatch,  O.  G.  "             " 
Huntress,  J.  L.       Center  Harbor.     " 

Hubbard.  J.  P.  Hiram,  Me. 

Jameson,  John,  Cornish,    " 

Jose,  Horatio  N.  Portland,    " 

Jones,  John  S.  Salem,  Mass. 

Jones,  Thomas  R.  St.  John,  N.  B. 

Johnson,  Edwin  F.  Mlddletown,  Conn. 

Johnson,  Jamos  Sherburne,  Vt, 

Jordan,  Samuel,  Westbrook,  Me. 

Knight,  Enoch,  Portland,    " 

Kimball,  James  M.  "            " 

Kidder,  Joseph,  Manchester,  N.  H. 

King,  Hon.  Horatio,  Washington,  D.C. 

Keyes,  J.  F.  Ashland,  N.  H. 

Kinnicutt,  F.  H.  Worcester,  Mass. 

Kellogg,  F.  B.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Knight,  Aug. 

Kilburn,  J.  B.  Rutland,  Vt. 

Kingsley,  C.  .... 
Kingsley,  L.  G. 

Kimball,  Chas.  P.  Portland,  Me. 

Lord,  Tobias,  Standish,    " 

Lynch,  John,  Portland,    " 
Libby, H.  J. 

Libby,  Randall,  Porter,  Me. 

Ladd,  Geo.  W.  Bangor,    " 

Lockwood,  A.  D.  Lewiston,    " 


25 


Lyman,  J.  D.  Farmington,  N.  H. 

Latham,  C.  H.  Lowell,  Mass. 

Laflin,  S.  H.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

LeProhon,  E.  P.  Portland,  Me. 

Loomis,  Peter  B.  Jackson,  Mich. 

McLellan,  JacoD,  Portland,  Me. 

Messer,  F.  G.  "           " 

Miller,  N.  J.  "            " 

McArthur,  Wm.  Limington,    " 

McKenney,  Freeman,  "             " 

Mussey,  John  Portland,    " 

Macdonald,  Francis,  "           " 

Merrill,  Albert,  "           " 

Morrill,  H.  K.  Gardiner,    " 

Manning,  11.  C.  '  Salem,  Mass. 
McDonald,  Hon.  A.  A.          P.  E.  Island. 

Mudgett,  Ambrose  H.  Holderness,  N.  H. 

McCraig,  Wm.  Detroit,  Mich. 

McKenzie,  Justin  T.  Hartford,  Vt. 

Moore,  Thomas,  Plymouth,    " 

McDuffee,  John,  Rochester,  N.  H. 
Morgan,  Jas.  Appleton,        Racine,  Wis. 

McNaughton,  A.  M.  Jackson,  Mich. 
Merrill,  Hon.  Samuel,    Desmoines,  Iowa. 

Morse,  E.  A.  Rutland,  Vt. 

Marshall,  B.  W.  "           " 

Moore,  M,  J.  "          " 

MiUiken,  Chas.  R.  Portland,  Me. 

Morris,  Chas.  J.  "            " 

Manson,  B.  T.  "           " 

Moulton,  Moses  S.  Porter,    " 
Mason,  W.  H.  H.         Moultonboro,  N.  H. 

Marshall,  Wm.  C.  Meredith,     " 
Merrow,  M.  H.         New  Hampton,     " 

McGoon,  Benj.  H.  "                    " 

Mason,  Larkin  D.  Tamworth,     " 

Mason,  S.  K.  Bristol,     " 

Mason,  J.  M,  Limerick,  Me. 

Moore,  C.  K.  Parsonsfleld,    " 

Newbegin,  E.  H.  "              " 

Neal,  John,  Portland,    " 

Nash,  John  D.  Halifax,  N.  S. 
Nealley,  John,            Meredith  Vil.,  N.  H. 

Nason,  Charles,  Ossipee,     " 

O'Brion,  John,  Cornish,  Me. 

Perley,  Jonas  H.  Portland,    " 

Poor,  John  A.  no 

Paul,  Norman,  Woodstock,  Vt. 

Pratt,  Lewis,  " 

Prentiss,  H.  E.  Bangor,  Me. 


Pierce,  Benj.,  LL.D.,     Cambridge,  Mass. 

Phillips,  VVillard  P.  Salem,      " 

Putnam,  George  F,  "           " 
Plummer,  J.  P.          Meredith  Vil.,  N.  H. 

Parker,  J.  C.  Hartford,  Vt. 

Penney,  E.G.  Montreal,  P.  Q. 

Patterson,  W.  J.  "            " 

Pierce,  Col.  George  H.  Dover,  N.  H. 

Pringle,  Eugene  Jackson,  Mich, 

Palmer,  W.  J.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Paine,  H.  H.  Rutland,  Vt. 

Perry,  John  D,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Pratt,  Eben  G.  «           .. 

Pierpoint,  E.  Rutland,  Vt. 

Putnam,  Wm.  L.  Portland,  Me 
Perkins,  J.  W. 

Pierce,  Lewis,  "  '• 
Piper,  J.  8.  New  Hampton,  N.  H. 
Plummer,  Lane,    Meredith  Center,    " 

Richardson,  R.  M.  Portland,  Me. 

Rice,  Nehemiah  C.  "            " 

Robie,  Frederick,  Gorham,    " 

Ridlon,  E.  S.  Parsonsfleld,'    " 

Richmond,  Lorenzo,  Woodstock,  Vt. 

Rich,  William  D.  New  York. 

Ridlon,  Samuel,  jr.  Porter,  Me. 

Raymond,  Charles  S.  Bridgewater,  Vt. 

Rice,  Hon.  Richard  D.  Augusta,  Me. 

Rice,    "     John  H.  Bangor,    " 

Randall,  J.  J.  R.  Rutland,  Vt. 

Rich,  M.  N.  Portland,  Me, 

Richardson,  Daniel  T.  Baldwin,    " 

Roles,  J.  Q.  Ossipee,  N.  H. 

Stevens,  Aug.  E.  Portland,  Me. 

Shurtleff,  A.  K.  "           " 
Sweat,  L.  D.  M. 

Swasey,  H.  J.  Standish,    " 

Stacey,  L.  D.  Porter,    " 
Straw,  Hon.  E.              Manchester,  N.  H. 

Smyth,  Hon.  F.  "               '' 

Sayward,  Charles  W.  Woodstock,  Vt. 

Stetson,  George  Bangor,  Me. 

Safford,  James  O.  Salem,  Mass. 

Simpson,  J.  E.  New  York. 
Sanborn,  John  S.      Meredith  Vil.,  N.  H. 

Scribner,  Frank  S.  Ashland,     " 

Scribner,  Ambrose,  "            " 

Standish,  J.  D.  Detroit,  Mich. 

Stanley,  Moses  N.  Porter,  Me. 

Slack,  E.  H.  Woodstock, Vt. 


26 


Sawyer,  George  Y.  Nashua,  N.  H, 

Stevens,  Lyman  D.  Concord,     " 

Sabine,  Hon.  Lorenzo,         Boston,  Mass. 
Smith,  John,  jr.         Meredith  Vil.,  N.  H. 


Sturgeon, Isaac  H. 
Sturdivant,  Cyrus, 
Swasey,  William, 
Stone,  William  B. 
Spring,  J.  H. 
Towle,  Ezra, 
Tyler,  Samuel, 
Tobin,  Stephen, 
Taylor,  Cyrus, 
Tufts,  Charles  A. 
Thompson,  T.  M. 
Talbot,  Hon.  George  F, 
Taylor,  George  R. 
Taylor,  Hon.  James  W 
Taylor,  Charles  H. 
Taylor,  D.  W. 
Twitchell,  Thomas  E. 
Thurston,  Josiah, 
Thurston,  Benj.  E 
Wood,  Rufus  E. 


St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Portland,  Me. 

Llmeriok,    " 

Danbury,  N.  H. 

Hiram,  Me. 

Cornish,    " 

Brownfleld,    " 

Halifax,  N.  S. 

Bristol,  N.  H. 

Dover,  N.  H. 

Montreal,  P.  Q. 

Portland,  Me. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Boston,  Mass. 

Sherburne,  Vt 

Portland,  Me. 

Freedom,  N.  H. 

Moultonboro,    " 

Portland.  Me. 


Woodman,  George  W. 
Woodbury,  N.  L. 


Woodbury,  William.W. 
Willis,  William, 
Woodman,  J.  C. 
Waterman,  John  A. 
Weston,  James  A. 
Washburn,  Peter  T. 
Wheatland,  Henry, 
Willis,  Edward, 
Wheeler,  A.  D.,  D.D. 
Workman,  William, 
Wadlelgh,  G.  W. 
Wards  worth,  Samuel  D 


Portland,  Me. 


Gorham,    " 

Manchester,  N.  H. 

Woodstock,Vt. 

Salem,  Mass. 

St.  John,  N.  B. 

Topsham,  Me. 

Montreal,  P.  Q. 

Kezar  Falls,  Me. 

Porter,    •• 


Wallace,  E.  G.  Rochester,  N.  H. 

Woodwell,  C.  H.  Boston,  Mass. 

Ward,  George  L.  ■<          .« 

Wallbridge,  H.  D.  New  York. 
Workman,  Hon.  Thos.       Montreal.  P.  Q. 

Whitmore,  H.  R.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Weston.  T.  H.  Portland,  Me. 

Winslow,  James  N.  "           " 

Weed,  William  M.  Sandwich,  N.  H. 

Walker,  Schuyler,  Alexandria,     " 
Woodman,  Dana,    New  Hampton,    " 

Whipple,  Thomas  J.  l^couia,    ". 

Young,  £.  Meredith,    " 


Mr.  Farmer,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee,  further 
reported  the  following  for  permanent  officers  of  the 
Convention : 

President: 
His  Excellency  SAMUEL  MERRILL,  Gov.  of  Iowa,  of  Desmoines,  Iowa. 


Vice-Presidents  : 


Hon.  Stephen  Tobin,  Mayor, 
"  Thos.  R.  Jones,  M.  L.  C, 
"  A.  A.  McDonald,.  .  . 
"  Wm.  Workman,  Mayor, 
"      T.  M.  GiBBS,  M.  P.  P.,    . 

J.  D.  Standish,  Esq.,    .    .    . 

Hon.  Thomas  All,en,     .    .    . 
"     JAME.S  W.  Taylor,    .    . 
"      Wm.  Pitt  Fessenden,  Senator 
**      Eli  V.  Brewster,  Mayor,  .    . 

Gen.  Peter  T.  Washburn,  .    .    . 


Halifax,  N.  S. 
St.  John,  N.  B. 
Charlottestown,  P.  E.L 
Montreal,  Canada. 
Osbawa,  Ontario. 
Detroit,  Michigan. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
St.  Paul,  Minn. 
Portland,  Maine. 
Dover,  N.  H. 
Woodstock,  Vt. 


27 

Hon.  Amasa  Walker, North  Brookfield,  Mass. 

"      George  Folsom, New  York. 

"      Horatio  King, Washington,  D.  C. 

"      Isaac  N.  Arnold, Chicago,  111. 

"      H.  W.  CoRBETT,  Senator Portland,  Oregon. 

Secretaries. 

Hon.  Frederick  Robie, Gorham,  Maine. 

"      O.  F.  Fowler, Bristol,  N.  H. 

James  A.  Dupee,  Esq., Boston,  Mass. 

H.  W.  Blackadar, Halifax,  N.  S. 

E.  G.  Penney,  Esq., Montreal,  Canada. 

John  Cain,  Esq., Rutland,  Yt. 

These  officers  were  elected,  and,  on  motion,  a  com- 
mittee of  three  was  appointed  by  the  chair,  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Poor,  Derby,  and  Washburn,  to  wait  on 
GoY.  Merrill,  and  conduct  him  to  the  chair. 

The  committee  haYing  discharged  this  duty,  Goy. 
Merrill  said : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,— I  thank  you  for  the  distinguished  honor 
which  you  have  done  me  this  morning,  unexpected  as  it  really  is.  I  accept 
it,  not  only  as  an  honor  to  myself  personally,  as  a  sdn  of  Maine,  but  as  an 
honor  to  my  State,  the  great  State  of  Iowa.    (Applause.) 

As  it  has  not  "been  ray  habit  to  make  public  speeches,  I  know  you  will 
excuse  me  at  this  time  from  further  addressing  you,  and  I  wait,  therefore, 
your  pleasure. 

Gen.  P.  T.  Washburn  moYcd  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  to  consider  and  report  to  the  ConYention 
the  order  of  business. 

This  motion  was  carried,  and  it  was  Yoted  that  the 
committee  consist  of  thirteen.  The  chair  announced 
the  following  gentlemen  as  the  Committee  on 
Business  : 

Hon.  Peter  T.  Washburn Woodstock,  Yt. 

"      Henry  T.  Blow, St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"      James  W.  Taylor, St.  Paul,  Minn. 


28 

"W.  H.  Craig,  Esq., Detroit,  Michigan. 

W.  J.  Patterson,  Esq., Montreal,  Canada. 

Hon.  John  A.  Poor, Portland,  Me. 

Hamilton  A.  Hill, Boston,  Mass. 

Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett, Portland,  Oregon. 

John  D.  Nash,  Esq., Halifax,  N.  S. 

Hon.  Charles  Fisher, St.  John,  N.  B. 

"      F.  Brecken, Charlottestown,  P.  E.  I. 

"      F.  Smyth, Manchester,  N.  H. 

On  motion,  it  was  voted,  that  when  the  Convention 
adjourn,  it  be  to  meet  at  three  o'clock,  p.m. 

On  motion  of  Hon.  John  Neal,  the  Convention  then 

adjourned. 

AFTERNOON   SESSION. 

The  Convention  met  at  three  o'clock,  the  President 
in  the  chair. 

Hon.  Frederick  Robie,  one  of  the  Secretaries,  read 
letters  sent  in  response  to  the  invitation  to  be  present 
and  participate  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention. 

Letter  from  the  Governor  of  Maine, 

ExBcunvE  Depabtment, 

Augusta,  Aug.  3,  1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir,— I  much  regret  that  the  necessity  of  my  going  to  Bangor 
to-day  to  meet  a  public  appointment  with  the  Executive  Council  will 
deprive  me  of  the  privilege  of  participating  in  your  important  and  most 
interesting  conference  of  the  friends  of  commercial  enterprise  and  interna- 
tional comity. 

The  objects  of  the  Convention,  and  the  topics  with  which  you  will  be 
chiefly  concerned,  are  matters  which  have  greatly  interested  me,  and  which 
I  have  already,  on  every  occasion,  sought  to  commend  to  the  attention  of 
our  people. 

I  would  be  glad  to  be  present,  and  extend  a  welcome  in  behalf  of  the 
State  to  the  distinguished  gentlemen  assembled  to  consult  upon  measures 
which  so  closely  affect  her  interests;  but  finding  this  impossible,!  offer  you 


29 

this  assurance  of  my  most  cordial  sympathy  and  co-operation,  so  far  as  my 
ability  or  opportunities  will  permit. 

I  am,  with  high  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  L.  CHAMBERLAIN. 


Letter  from  the  Governor  of  Vermont. 

Rutland,  Vt.,  Aug.  1, 1868. 
Hon.  JoHisr  A.  Pooe: 

My  Dear  Sir, — I  regret  that  I  am  not  able  to  be  with  you  on  the  4th  inst. 
Some  engagements  that  I  had  hoped  to  put  off,  required  my  attention,  and 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  leave  Vermont  during  the  coming  week.  You 
must  not  infer  from  my  absence  that  I  have  lost  any  interest  in  the  Port- 
land and  Rutland  Railroad ;  on  the  contrary,  we  feel  much  encouraged  in 
regard  to  its  prospects,  and  believe  that  it  needs  only  energetic  and  united 
efforts  to  secure  the  building  of  the  links  wanting  in  this  important  line  of 
road. 

We  send  a  large  delegation  to  your  meeting,  and  have  surveyed  the 
Rutland  and  Woodstock  Railroad,  a  link  in  the  Portland  and  Rutland, 
and  find  the  route  as  favorable  as  w€  expected. 

We  have  procured  the  subscriptions  of  stock  necessary  for  organization, 
and  the  directors  are  to  be  elected  as  soon  as  the  legal  notices  can  be  given. 

Hoping  your  meeting  will  prove  a  success,  and  tend  to  promote  the  ob- 
jects for  which  it  is  held, 

I  remain,  truly,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  B.  PAGE. 


Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Department  of  State, 

Washington,  July  18, 1868. 
To  Messrs.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Gentlemen,—!  have  received  the  circular  which  you  have  issued  calling 
an  International  Commercial  Convention  to  take  into  consideration  the 
various  measures  and  plans  now  before  the  country  to  increase  facilities 
of  intercourse  and  trade  between  the  Atlantic  sea-board,  the  interior  of 
the  continent,  and  the  new  States  and  Territories  upon  the  Pacific  coast. 

The  paper  is  so  attractive,  that  it  seduced  me  for  a  moment  into  the  be- 
lief that  it  would  be  possible  for  me  to  accept  the  invitation  which  you 
have  so  kindly  extended  to  me.  Upon  further  reflection,  however,  I  find 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  avail  myself  of  so  great  an  indul- 
gence. 

Thanking  you  very  sincerely  for  your  attention,  and  hoping  that  the 

patriotic  labors  of  the  Convention  will  be  crowned  with  a  large  measure 

of  public  favor, 

I  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  humble  servant, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


30 


Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

Depaetment  of  the  Interior, 

Washington,  July  17, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq: 

Sir,— I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  11th  inst., 
inclosing  an  invitation  to  attend  a  meeting  of  an  International  Conven- 
tion, to  be  held  at  Portland,  on  the  4th  of  August  next,  for  the  adoption  of 
measures  to  increase  the  facilities,  by  means  of  Railways  and  Canals,  for 
carrying  on  trade  and  commerce  between  the  Atlantic  States  and  those 
lying  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Although  my  official  duties  will  not  permit  me  to  avail  myself  of  the 
invitation  of  the  Committee,  I  shall  confidently  indulge  the  hope  that  the 
action  of  the  International  Convention  will  be  calculated  to  subdue  un- 
reasonable sectional  prejudices,  and  to  promote  the  great  commercial, 
agricultural,  and  manufacturing  interests  of  our  country. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

O.  H.  BROWNING. 


Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Treasury  Department, 

Washington,  July  31, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

Dear  /Sir,— Your  favor  of  the  11th  inst.  was  duly  received.  Sympathiz- 
ing as  I  do  with  all  proper  efforts  which  are  being  made  to  "increase  the 
facilities  of  intercourse  and  trade"  between  the  diflerent  sections  of  the 
United  States,  and  between  the  United  States  and  the  Canadas,  I  regret  to 
be  under  the  necessity  of  saying  that  my  official  duties  are  of  such  a  char- 
acter as  to  prevent  me  from  accepting  your  kind  invitation  to  be  present 
at  the  International  Commercial  Convention,  to  be  held  at  Portland  on 

the  4th  proximo. 

Very  truly  yours, 

HUGH  Mcculloch. 


Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  War. 

War  Department, 

Washington,  July  23, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir,—1  regret  exceedingly  that  attention  to  matters  connected 
with  my  Department  renders  it  impossible  to  accept  your  polite  invitation 
to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  "International  Commercial  Convention"  at 
Portland. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedt.  servant, 

J.  M.  SCHOFIELD,  Sec.  of  War- 


31 


Letter  from  Senator  Edmands. 

United  States  Senate  Chamber, 

Washington,  July  17, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

Dear  Sir, — I  have  yours  of  the  11th,  inviting  nie  to  attend  the  Interna- 
tional Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  at  Portland,  on  August  4th.  I 
very  much  regret  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  present  on  that 
occasion.  1  sympathize  heartily  in  the  great  objects  which  your  meeting 
is  intended  to  promote.  Every  well-managed  line  of  railway  stretching 
over  wide  areas  of  the  country,  not  only  adds  to  the  material  prosperity  of 
the  country,  but  it  is  an  imperishable  bond  of  union.     I  wish  them  all 

success. 

In  haste,  yours  truly, 

GEO.   F.  EDMANDS. 


Letter  from  Senator  Sherman. 

Committee  of  Finance,  U,  S.  Senate, 

Washington,  July  18, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir,— Yonv  note  of  the  11th  inst.,  inviting  me  to  attend  and 
take  part  in  the  proposed  International  Commercial  Convention  at  Port- 
land, Maine,  was  duly  received.  I  heartily  approve  of  the  general  objects 
of  your  Convention,  and  would  be  delighted  not  only  to  visit  the  city  of 
Portland,  but  also  to  join  you  in  your  effort  to  increase  her  commercial 
intercourse  with  the  interior  of  the  continent ;  but  this  long  and  exhausting 
session  leaves  me  in  no  condition  to  assist  you.    I  must  go  home  and  rest. 

I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

JOHN  SHERMAN. 


Letter  from  Senator  Drake. 

United  States  Senate  Chamber, 

Washington,  July  20, 1868, 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir, — I  have  received  your  letter  of  11th  inst. ,  inviting  me  to  be 
present  at  an  International  Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  in  your 
city  on  the  4th  of  August. 

Cordially  sympathizing  in  any  effort  to  promote  railway  communication 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  I  should  be  pleased  to  attend  the 
Convention  if  circumstances  were  favorable ;  but  when  Congress  adjourns, 
other  things  will  claim  my  time  and  attention,  so  as  to  make  it  inconvenient 
for  me 'to  be  present  there.  I  shall,  therefore,  have  to  deny  myself  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  with  you  on  that  occasion. 

Very  respectfully  yours 

C.  D.  DRAKE. 


32 

Letter  from  Speaker  Colfax. 

House  of  Repeesentatives, 

Washington,  July  17, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir,— I  have  only  time  to  reply,  amid  multiplied  duties  incident 
to  the  approaching  close  of  the  session,  that,  at  the  time  you  indicate,  I 
shall  be  on  the  road  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  my  family,  and  -will 
therefore  have  to  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  attendance  at  your  Conven- 
tion. 

In  great  haste,  yours  truly, 

SCHUYLER  COLFAX. 


Letter  from  Senator  Harlan. 

United  States  Senate  Chamber, 

Washington,  July  28, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir,— I  am  in  receipt  of  your  communication  of  the  11th  inst.,  invit- 
ing me  to  attend  the  International  Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  at 
your  place  on  the  4th  proximo.  Press  of  business  incident  to  the  closing 
up  of  Congress,  preparatory  to  taking  a  recess,  has  prevented  my  apply- 
ing earlier. 

I  regret  to  say,  my  engagements  are  such  that  I  cannot  possibly  be  with 
you  on  an  occasion  of  so  much  interest.  Movements  of  tliis  character, 
having  in  view  the  adoption  of  measures  to  increase  the  facility  of  inter- 
course by  railway  and  canal,  and  the  adjustment,  on  the  most  liberal 
terms,  of  the  regulations  of  trade  upon  our  continent,  never  fail  to  meet 
with  a  hearty  response  from  Western  men. 

With  the  hope  that  your  deliberations  may  be  crowned  with  the  success 

you  desire,  I  remain. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

JAS.  HARLAN. 


Letter  from  Eon.  Charles  Upson,  of  Michigan. 

House  of  Representatives, 

Washington,  July  18, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir, — I  an»  in  receipt  of  copy  of  Call  for  an  International  Commer- 
cial Convention,  to  be  held  at  Portland,  Maine,  on  the  4th  of  August  next, 
and,  in  reply  to  your  request  accompanying  the  same,  will  say  that  while 
recognizing  the  great  importance  of  the  objects  and  measures  to  be  consid- 
ered and  acted  unon  by  said  Convention,  as  set  forth  in  said  Call,  yet  the 
nature  of  my  engagements  is  such  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be 

present  and  participate  in  its  proceedings. 

Truly  yours,  \ 

CHAS.  UPSON. 


33 

Letter  from  Gen.  Eaton,  U.  8.  A. 

Office  Commissary-General  of  Subsistence, 
Washington,  July  23, 1868. 
Messrs.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Gentlemen, — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a  printed 
copy  of  your  invitation  to  take  part  in  an  International  Commercial  Con- 
vention, to  be  held  at  Portland,  Maine,  on  Tuesday,  August  4, 1868.  Had 
I  the  exi^erience  and  ability  requisite  to  afford  you  any  substantial  aid  in 
perfecting  your  great  design,  I  would  endeavor  to  attend  the  proposed 
Convention. 

It  does  not  require  inspiration — statistics,  arithmetic,  and  a  study  of  the 
year  past  are  sufficient— to  forecast  for  the  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America  a  near  future  of  such  transcendent  prosperity,  accompanied  by 
such  an  unequalled  increase  of  population,  as  will  require  for  their  use,  by 
the  time  you  are  ready,  not  only  your  contemplated  trans-continental  rail- 
road, but  many  others.  I  do  not  think  you  are  in  the  field  any  too  early. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

A.  B.  EATON,  Com.  Genl. 


Letter  from  Paymaster  Harris. 

U.  S.  Navy  Yard,  Boston, 

Paymaster's  Office,  July  28, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq.,  and  others: 

Gentlemen, — I  thank  you  for  an  invitation  to  the  International  Commer- 
cial Convention  at  Portland,  on  the  4th  proximo. 

The  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  so  clearly  demonstrated  the  economy 
of  travel  and  transportation  by  steam,  both  afloat  and  ashore,  that  the 
propositions  which  you  suggest  are  undoubtedly  practicable. 

It  is  always  safe  to  build  our  philosophy  on  the  foundations  of  experience 
and  history. 

We  have  seen  that  railways  produce  their  own  sustenance,  making 
travel  and  transportation  where  none  existed  before,  developing  the 
resources  of  the  districts  which  they  traverse;  and  as  they  have  become 
more  and  more  profitable  every  year,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  no  invest- 
ments are  less  hazardous  for  capitalists. 

My  profession,  for  many  years  in  the  naval  service  afloat — carrying  me 
entirely  round  the  world  and  up  and  down  the  globe's  surface,  almost  as 
far  as  the  oceans  are  navigable — has  not  particularly  qualified  me  to 
appreciate  all  the  details  of  your  contemplated  great  shore- works ;  but  I 
do  not  fail  to  discover  the  vast  scope  of  its  national  and  individual  benefits, 
and  its  most  evident  feasibility. 

Nor  will  its  benefits  be  confined  to  our  own  country  or  continent,  but 
will  enure  to  all  the  principal  nations  of  the  earth;  contribating  to  give  a 
3 


34 

more  lively  impetus  to  the  best   elements  of    enlightened   civilization 
throughout  the  world. 

Regretting»that  engagements  prevent  me  from  sharing  the  honor  and  the 
privilege  of  taking  part  in  your  inauguration  of  this  great  work, 
I  am,  gentlemen,  very  truly  yours, 

I.  GEO.  HARRIS. 


Letter  from  Hon.  J.  F.  Forbes. 

Liverpool,  N.  S.,  July  22, 1868. 
To  John  A.  Poor,  Esq.,  and  others: 

Gentleme7i,—ia  answer  to  your  courteous  invitation  to  attend  the  meeting 
to  take  place  in  your  city  on  the  4th  proximo,  to  consider  the  subject  of 
"  extended  intercourse  over  this  continent,"  I  am  very  sorry  to  feel  obliged 
to  decline  taking  a  part  in  the  deliberations  necessary  to  so  gigantic  and 
patriotic  a  scheme  as  the  one  to  be  brought  before  the  Convention.  To  say 
that  I  do  not  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  question,  would  not  be  consonant 
with  my  feelings,  for  it  is  one  in  which  every  dweller  on  this  continent 
should  feel  a  personal  concern,  as  it  will  draw  those  bands  of  commercial 
interest  around  our  people,  and  tend  to  cement  them  into  the  one  great 
family,  which  God  and  nature  intended  should  be  the  case,  as  regards  the 
Anglo-American  people  on  this  continent;  that  we  may  see  the  same  flag 
floating  over  a  united  people  at  no  distant  day,  is  a  sentiment  largely  per- 
vading this  ancient  and  once  loyal  province  no  one  can  deny;  and  that  the 
**  wish  is  father  to  the  thought "  is  patent  to  the  w^hole  of  a  dissatisfied  and 
an  insulted  people,  and  a  people  who  will  never  rest  easy  until  such  time 
as  they  have  escaped  from  the  serfdom  of  an  appendage  to  Canada,  and 
found  safety  and  contentment  under  the  protecting  wings  of  your  noble 
eagle. 

Feeling  sorry  I  shall  not  be  with  you  to  express  in  person  my  feelings 
upon  the  important  question  to  be  considered  by  the  many  able  and 
influential  gentlemen  assembled  on  the  occasion,  I  can  only  further  say, 
it  is  my  sincere  hope  and  wish,  that  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the 
consultation,  it  will  be  of  a  nature  to  increase  the  attraction  which  is  so 
strongly  drawing  us  together. 

My  absence  is  unavoidable,  owing  to  previous  public  engagements,  or  I 
should  certainly  be  with  you.    And  now,  gentlemen,  wishing  you  a  success 
commensurate  with  the  magnitude  and  utility  of  the  undertaking, 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  F.  FORBES,  M.  P. 


Letter  from  Hon.  Mr.  Killam,  M.  P.  P. 

Yarmouth,  K.  S.,  July  16, 1868. 
To  THE  International  Commercial  Convention: 

Gentlemen,— Y OUT   circular-invitation  to  the  International  Commercial 
Convention  is  at  hand,  and  contents  noted.    Previous  engagements  pre- 


35 

vents  my  having  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you,  which  I  much  regret.  The 
subject  to  come  under  your  consideration  is  world-wide,  and  its  magnitude 
beyond  the  stretch  of  my  imagination ;  yet  to  men  that  have  been  en- 
gaged in  great  enterprises,  nothing  appears  to  be  too  large  to  be  under- 
taken. I  hope  and  trust  your  deliberations  will  enable  you  to  agree  on 
measures  that  will  tend  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  your  country  and  its 
adjoinings.  At  present.  Nova  Scotians  are  so  unfortunately  situated  politi- 
cally, that  little  material  aid  can  be  given,  but  we  wish  you  every  success, 
and  trust  the  day  is  not  distant  when  our  connection  with  the  United 
States  will  be  a  closer  one  than  a  railroad  can  give. 

Respectfully  yours, 

THOMAS  KILLAM. 


Letter  from  Hon,  W.  H.  Townsend,  M.  P.  P. 

Yarmouth,  K.  S.,  July  24, 1868. 
To  John  A.  Poor,  Esq.,  and  others: 

Gentlemen,— Y OUT  circular  dated  June  29th,  inviting  me  to  take  part  in  an 
International  Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  at  Portland,  Maine,  on 
Tuesday,  the  4th  of  August  next,  was  duly  received.  I  regret  exceedingly 
that  the  meeting  of  our  Nova  Scotian  Legislature,  on  the  6th  of  August 
will  deprive  me  of  the  privilege  of  being  present  at  this  Convention.  The 
grand  programme  that  you  have  marked  out  is  certainly  worthy  the  cor- 
dial co-operation  and  support  of  every  friend  of  commerce,  and  I  trust 
your  deliberations  will  result  in  the  full  consummation  of  this  magnificent 
enterprise. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen,  your  obedt.  servant. 

W.  H.  TOWNSEND. 

Letter  from  Hon.  B.  B.  Dickey,  M.  L.  C. 

Amherst,  N.  S.,  July  24, 1868. 
To  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Gentlemen,—!  have  read  with  interest,  as  as  well  as  pleasure,  your  circu- 
lar invitation,  kindly  urging  my  attendance  at  the  International  Commer- 
cial Convention,  to  be  held  in  your  pleasant  city  on  Tuesday,  August  4th. 

Owing  to  engagements  sometime  since  made,  and  which  cannot  be  post- 
poned, I  very  much  regret  to  say  it  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  join  you. 
Cordially  sympathizing  as  I  do  with  the  objects  of  the  proposed  meeting, 
and  believing  that  such  a  gathering  may  greatly  tend  to  promote  these  ob- 
jects', I  would  have  gladly  taken  a  part  in  furthering  the  good  work,  were 
I  not  unavoidably  prevented  from  leaving  home  next  month. 

I  have  a  lively  recollection  of  the  many  pleasing  incidents  of  the  past 
European  and  North  American  Railway  Convention  in  the  latter  days  of 
July,  1850,  the  precursor  of  a  meeting  which  I  trust  may  be  equally  agree- 


36 

able  and  successful.  True  it  is,  political  exigencies  in  Nova  Scotia  have 
retarded  the  great  work  we  then  met  to  inaugurate,  but  the  impetus  which 
this  international  undertaking  received  has  not  been  thrown  away,  and  at 
the  close  of  1870  will  witness  the  realization  of  the  hopes  of  its  founders, 
among  whom  I  deem  it  a  proud  privilege  to  be  classed. 

Believing,  as  I  do,  that  these  international  iron  bands  form  the  strongest 
links  of  kindly  feeling  and  increased  peaceful  intercourse  and  good  fel- 
lowship between  the  great  nations  of  the  earth,  and  that  these  good  ends 
may  be  subserved  by  one  or  two,  or  even  more  iron  roads  across  the  terri- 
tory of  both,  that  shall  bear  tho  rich  treasures  of  the  East  to  the  markets 
of  the  West,  and  carry  back  civilization,  with  its  attendant  blessings,  to  In- 
dia, China,  Japan,  and  the  isles  of  the  Pacific.  I  greet  your  meeting  with 
the  best  wishes  of  my  whole  heart  for  its  success.  Such  a  gathering  is 
wortliy  of  the  great  American  people,  among  whom  it  has  been  initiated, 
and  I  trust  it  may  be  well  attended  by  their  younger  cousins  from  our  new 
Dominion. 

With  my  renewefl.  expressions  of  regret,  and  best  wishes  for  your  suc- 
cess, I  beg  to  subscribe  myself 

Your  faithful  servant, 

B.  B.  DICKEY. 


Letter  from  Hon.  8.  L.  Tilley,  Minister  of  CustomSf  Canada. 

St.  John,  N.  B.,  July  24, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq.: 

Dear  5'tr,— Please  convey  to  the  Committee  of  the  International  Com- 
mercial Convention  my  thanks  for  their  invitation,  and  my  sincere  regret 
that  I  cannot  be  with  them  on  the  4th  of  August  next,  to  take  part  in  their 
proceedings.  I  will  be  rejoiced  if  the  deliberations  of  the  Conference 
result  in  the  adoption  of  resolutions  forming  increased  commercial  inter- 
course between  the  United    States  and   the   British   North   American 

Provinces. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  yours  faithfully, 

S.  L.  TILLEY. 


Letter  from  Hon.  J.  K.  Ryerson,  M.  P.  P. 

Yarmouth,  N.  "s.,  July  20, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Oentlemen,— Your  circular  concerning  the  International  Commercial 
Convention  about  to  be  convened  in  the  city  of  Portland  came  duly  to 
hand,  and  contents  noted. 

Our  Local  Legislature  meets  at  Halifax  about  the  same  time  (Aug.  6)  as 
your  Convention,  and,  in  consequence,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend  the 
Convention.  However,  I  fully  concur  with  all  that  you  have  laid  down  in 
this  grand  programme,  and  trust  that  there  will  be  a  large  delegation  to 


37 

discuss  this  important  question,  and  that  they  will  do  all  in  their  power  to 
bring  about  this  grand  scheme  for  facilitating  travel,  etc. 
I  remain,  gentlemen,  yours  respectfully, 

JOHN  K.  BYEESON. 


Letter  Jrom  the  Secretary  of  State  of  New  Hampshire. 

Farmington,  July  28,  1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

Dear  Sir,— Flense  accept  my  many  thanks  for  your  invitation  to  attend 
the  4th  of  August  Convention,  and  for  your  paper  on  railroad  matters. 
Permit  me  to  say  that  your  Convention  is  to  consider  subjects  worthy  of 
the  marvellous  decade  which  has  already  witnessed  the  laying  of  the 
Atlantic  cable,  the  suppression  of  the  great  rebellion,  the  death  of 
American  slavery,  and  shall  yet  see  the  completion  of  two  railroads 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  a  ship  canal  across  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  a  more 
complete  and  voluntary  opening  of  China  to  Western  commerce  and 
civilization,  and,  we  trust,  the  realization  of  the  glorious  vision  of 
Columbus  in  a  Western  route  for  oriental  commerce  and  telegraj)hic 
communication  around  the  world.  Marvellous  decade!  Columbus  and 
Washington — the  discoverer  of  a  new  world  and  the  father  of  earth's 
noblest  republic — scarcely  knew  its  equal,  and  they  alone,  since  the 
Christian  era.  No  decade  can  claim  the  invention  of  printing  and  of  the 
steam  engine. 

Portland  is  decidedly  the  most  enterprising  city  east  of  Chicago,  and  I 
pray  you  -God-speed.  Would  that  I  could  do  something  in  your  great 
enterprise.  Believing  in  the  Suez  canal,  the  supply  of  fuel  for  the  Pacific 
steamers  becomes  of  vast  importance.  It  ought  to  be  obtained  in  southern 
Asia  and  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  North  Ameriea.  England  and 
Belgium  should  not  hold  the  fuel  for  the  Pacific-oriental  commerce.  Your 
Convention  is  glorious  in  its  conceptions,  and  God  grant  that  it  may  be 
great  in  its  practical  results.  I  believe  in  worthies  who,  like  the  "  three 
children"  of  old  and  the  Portlanders,  cannot  be  destroyed  by  fire.  I  shall 
drop  into  your  Convention  if  possible,  of  which  I  am  not  yet  sure. 
With  great  respect,  yours  very  truly, 

J.  D.  LYMAN. 

Letter  from  John  W.  Draper,  LL.  B. 

University  New  York,  Aug.  3, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

Dear  (Sir,— Owing  to  my  absence,  your  letter  did  not  fall  into  my  hands 
until  now.  I  suppose  your  meeting  is  to  take  place  to-morrow.  I  earnestly 
approve  of  your  objects,  and  regret  that  I  am  not  able  to  take  part  in  your 

proceedings. 

Yours  truly, 

JOHN    W.  DRAPER. 


38 

Letter  from  Hon.  Levi  Underwood. 

Burlington,  Vt.,  July  27,  1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Pooe: 

Dear  Sir,— Your  favor  inviting  me  to  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
vention, to  be  held  in  your  city  on  the  4th  proximo,  is  received.  I  regret 
that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  me  to  be  present.  The  importance  of  the 
commercial  improvements  necessary  to  a  cheap  transportation  between 
the  Western  States  and  Canadas,  and  the  Atlantic  sea-board,  cannot  be 
overestimated.  The  feasibility  of  spring  water  communication  between 
the  Western  Lakes,  the  St.  Lawrence  Kiver,  and  Lake  Champlain,  should 
be  kept  constantly  before  the  public,  until  that  all-important  work  shall 
be  accomplished,  and  its  value,  commercially  and  politically,  to  the  West- 
ern and  New  England  States  and  the  Canadas,  fully  realized. 

The  construction  of  railways  connecting  Portland  with  Lake  Cham- 
l)lain  will  be  necessary  to  distribute  the  produce  which  will  be  brought  in 
steam-vessels  from  the  Western  Lakes  to  Lake  Champlain  at  one-half  the 
cost  of  rail  transportation.  Lake  Champlain  can  be  reached  from  Port- 
land most  advantageously  via  Concord,  Claremont,  and  Gasset's,  on  the 
line  of  the  Rutland  Railroad.  This  route  is  shortest,  freest  from  deep 
snows  in  winter,  and  with  less  railway  to  construct;  and  with  this,  also, 
you  will  have  the  best  all-rail  route  to  the  West.  With  the  establishment 
of  that  commercial  convenience,— the  Champlain  Ship  Canal,— reciprocity 
in  trade  and  commerce,  between  the  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  will  be  a  necessity.  The  political  harmony  between  the  Eastern 
and  Western  States  can  only  be  preserved  by  increasing  commercial  facil- 
ities. People  will  not  harmonize  who  are  compelled  to  submit  to  unneces- 
sary inconvenience  in  commerce.  Nor  will  they  long  quarrel  vrith  their 
own  bread  and  butter.  I  trust  the  work  you  contemplate  will  be  speedily 
pushed  forward  to  comi)letion. 

I  remain  yours,  with  kind  regards, 

LEVI  UNDERWOOD. 


Letter  from  Hon.  M.  M.  Jackson. 

CONSUIiATE  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES   OF  AMERICA, 

Halifax,  N.  S.,  July  23, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

Dear  Sir,—1  thank  you  for  the  invitation  with  which  you  have  honored 
me,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  to  attend  thfe  Interna- 
tional-Commercial Convention,  to  be  held  at  Portland  on  the  4th  of  August 
next. 

I  deeply  regret  that  official  engagements  will  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure 
of  participating  in  the  proceedings  of  the  proposed  Convention. 

The  objects  contemplated  by  the  enlightened  and  public-spirited  citizens 
who  have  originated  this  great  movement  "for  the  adoption  of  measures 


39 

to  increase  the  facilities  of  intercourse  by  railway  and  canal,  and  the  ad- 
justment, on  the  most  liberal  terms,  of  the  regulation  of  trade  upon  the 
continent  of  North  America,"  will,  I  am  sure,  commend  themselves  to 
the  favorable  consideration  of  the  people  both  of  the  United  States  and  the 
British  North  American  Provinces. 

Trusting  that  the  beneficial  results  of  the  Convention  may  realize  the 
anticipation  of  its  projectors, 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  your  friend  and  ob't  servant, 

M.  M.  JACKSON. 


Letter  from  Hon.  George  Walker. 

Springfield,  July  25, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Gentlemen,—!  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  circular-letter, 
inviting  me  to  participate  in  an  International  Commercial  Convention,  to 
be  held  at  Portland  on  the  4th  proximo.  I  regret  that  my  engagements 
will  not  allow  me  to  leave  home  at  that  time. 

I  am  glad  tp  see  the  people  of  Maine  moving  in  the  important  subject  of 
improving  the  means  of  commercial  intercourse  between  the  agricultural 
west  and  the  sea-board,  and  between  our  own  continent  and  the  rest  of  the 
world.  There  is  no  truer  index  of  the  advance  of  civilization  than  the 
progress  which  is  made  in  facilitating  intercourse  between  distant 
sections  or  countries.  The  railways  and  lines  of  water  transportation 
the  expresses,  the  post-office,  and  the  telegraph  are  all  instrumentalities 
looking  to  the  same  end,  the  equalizing  of  the  conditions  of  peoples  by 
annihilating  the  space  and  the  time  which  separate  them.  Theref  is, 
happily,  no  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of  these  preliminary 
measures  towards  the  securing  of  that  freedom  of  trade  which  all  men 
hope  and  believe  will  ultimately  prevail,  however  much  they  may  differ  as 
to  the  time  and  manner  of  applying  the  principle. 

As  a  Massachusetts  man,  I  naturally  desire  to  see  as  large  a  portion  of 
the  Western  trade  directed  to  Boston  as  we  can  properly  control ;  but  I  am 
fully  convinced,  that,  for  many  years  to  come,  the  principal  increase  of  that 
trade  is  to  reach  us  by  the  avenue  of  Lake  Ontario  and  the  upper  St. 
Lawrence.  That  avenue  is,  by  nature,  as  open  to  you  as  to  us,  and  though  we 
have  the  advantage  of  railway  lines  already  built,  the  excellence  of  your 
harbor  and  the  shortness  of  the  link  now  wanting  to  connect  your  city  by 
a  direct  route  with  the  lakes,  and  the  great  railway  system  of  the  interior 
and  the  West,  present  inducements  to  your  capitalists  to  complete  the 
connection,  which,  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country,  and  more 
especially  for  the  good  of  New  England,  I  hope  they  will  not  neglect. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

GEORGE  WALKER. 


40 

Letter  from  Hon.  H.  O.  Kent, 

Langasteb,  N.  H.,  July  20, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir, — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  favor  of  recent  date,  notifying  me 
of  the  proposed  Convention  on  the  4th  proximo,  and  requesting  my  attend- 
ance. I  should  take  more  than  ordinary  pleasure  in  being  present,  but  a 
prior  engagement  for  the  same  day  will  prevent. 

I  became  much  interested  in  your  proposed  line  across  our  State,  during 
the  recent  session,  and  am  entirely  satisfied  as  to  its  feasibility.  It  seems 
impossible  that  so  short  a  link,  in  such  a  magnificent  chain,  can  long  be 
wanting.  I  shall  watch  the  progress  of  your  corporation  with  much  inter- 
est, and  with  confidence  in  its  entire  success  at  no  distant  day. 
Meantime  I  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  ob't  servant, 

HENRY  O.  KENT. 


Letter  from  the  Editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 

Chicago,  July  22, 1808. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir,—!  regret  that  my  engagements  will  not  permit  me  to  be 
with  you  July  28th,  as  I  have  no  spare  time  in  which  to  prepare  anything 
that  would  interest  j'our  Convention.  I  beg  to  a.ssure  you  of  the  deep  in- 
terest I  take  in  its  success.    We  published  a  notice  of  it  this  morning. 

Very  truly  yours, 

WM.  BROS8. 


Letter  from  the  Editor  of  the  Maine  Farmer. 

Bethel,  July  30, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  Dear  Sir,—1  exceedingly  regret  my  inability  to  be  present,  on  your 
invitation,  at  the  International  Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  in  Port- 
land, August  4th.  A  previous  arrangement  to  attend  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  American  Association  for  the  advancement  of  science,  at  Chicago, 
on  the  5th,  is  my  only  excuse. 

I  know  of  no  subject  so  grand  in  its  conception,  so  feasible  in  execution, 
and  so  important  in  its  results  to  the  American  people,  as  the  plan  of  di- 
rect communication  by  railroad  across  the  continent.  Such  a  road,  when^ 
in  running  order,  will  be  the  great  highway,  not  only  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, but  of  the  nations.  "When  railroads  shall  have  been  built  across  the 
Eastern  hemisphere,  which  I  hope  you  will  live  to  see  accomplished,  the 
oceans,  which  hitherto  have  been  the  great  roads  of  travel,  will  be  but 
carrying-places  between  the  nearest  points  of  their  opposite  shores. 

Hitherto  our  railroads  have  been  built  much  in  the  same  way  as  Boston 
was  originally  built,  each  man  acting  purely  for  self,  without  regard  to  the 


41 

future  growth  of  the  town  or  country.    But  the  time  has  arrived  when 
more  than  this  should  be  done. 

The  extension  of  our  raih'oad  system  across  the  continent  will  serve  to 
bind  together  not  only  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  but  to  promote  in- 
tercourse between  us  and  foreign  powers.  The  railroad  is  rapidly  be- 
coming one  of  the  great  civilizers  of  the  age.  No  scheme  can  hardly  be 
on  too  extended  a  scale  to  bring  about  these  results.  Maine  herself 
is  especially  interested.  I  have  sometimes  feared  that  I  might  live  to 
see  ourselves  involved  in  a  war  with  Great  Britain.  In  such  a  case, 
Maine,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  foreign  power,  would  be  made  more 
the  battle-ground  for  the  mastery  than  ever  before.  With  a  direct  line  of 
railroad,  troops  in  countless  numbers  could  be  poured  into  the  State,  and 
we  be  comparatively  safe.  A  national  railroad,  under  such  circumstances, 
would  be  of  vastly  greater  value  to  us  than  all  our  fortifications. 

I  hardly  need  speak  here  of  the  value  of  such  a  road  to  the  great  West. 
You  will  discuss  its  importance  at  your  meeting.  But  there  is  a  point 
nearer  home,  or  rather  there  are  three  points  of  interest  to  us.  The  one  is, 
the  prospect  that  both  the  eastern  and  western  portions  of  Maine  will  be 
open  to  the  world  by  railroads.  This  will  be  equivalent  to  a  large  acces- 
sion to  our  territory,  our  resources,  and  our  population.  The  next  important 
point  is  the  prospect  of  making  Portland  the  great  embarking  point  for  the 
great  West.  We  can  hardly  conceive  what  effect  this  may  have  on  the 
future  of  that  city.  Let  the  contemplated  road  be  built,  and  you  at  once 
bring  a  large  portion  of  Kew  Hami)shire  and  Vermont  under  your  interest  , 
to  say  nothing  of  the  far  West. 

I  have  watched  with  interest  the  history  of  railroads  in  Maine  from  the 
time  when  it  was  decided  in  the  newspapers  that  we  could  not  have  a  rail- 
road in  this  State  on  account  of  the  roughness  of  the  country.  They  are 
all  necessary  for  the  growth  of  the  State. 

I  trust  that  the  most  enlarged  views  will  prevail  in  your  Convention,  of 
which  the  array  of  distinguished  names  in  your  circular  is  a  guaranty,  anql 
that  sectional  feeling  will  give  way  to  the  national  and  international  scheme 
under  consideration. 

1  have  the  pleasure  and  the  honor,  to  be 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

N.  T.  TRUE. 


Mr.  John  A.  Poor  said, — This  forenoon,  I  took  the 
liberty  of  mentioning  that  a  distinguished  representa- 
tive from  the  North-west,  officially  connected  with  the 
Treasury  Department  during  the  last  seven  years, 


42 

and  well  known  as  a  gentleman  familiar  with  all 
questions  connected  with  international  intercourse, 
was  present  in  the  Convention,  having  come  all  the 
way  from  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  to  attend  it.  He  was 
then  in  consultation  with  a  gentleman  from  New 
Brunswick,  and  was  not  at  the  moment  here.  He  is 
now  in  the  building,  engaged  with  a  committee.  I 
believe  there  is  no  public  man  in  this  broad  land,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast,  more  conversant 
with  all  questions  touching  the  relations  of  British 
America  and  the  United  States,  and  I  move  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  Hon.  James 
W.  Taylor,  of  St.  Paul,  and  invite  him  to  address  the 
Convention. 

This  motion  was  carried,  and  Messrs.  Neal  and  Poor 
appointed  the  committee,  who  soon  after  appeared 
upon  the  platform,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Taylor,  who 
was  greeted  with  loud  applause. 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  J.  W.  TAYLOR. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,— Out  fellow-citizens  in 
the  central  portion  of  the  Union,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  aegis  of 
their  own  government,  hold  a  situation  upon  this  continent  materially 
different  from  the  border  States  on  the  north.  The  lake  States,  the  frontier 
States  on  the  east  and  the  west,  hold  a  relation  to  a  large  portion  of  this 
continent  beyond  them,  which  is  not  the  relation  of  a  common  allegiance. 
It  is  for  this  Convention,  as  its  designation  implies,  to  take  this  fact  into 
consideration,  and  to  determine,  in  the  light  of  our  .civilization,  of  human 
progress,  and  of  human  happiness,  that  this  frontier  shall  exist  only  in 
name  (applause);  that  for  all  purposes  of  intercourse,  of  social  influence, 
of  enterprise,  of  progress,  whatever  may  be  the  divergence  of  political 
allegiance  or  ties,  that  frontier  shall  be  obliterated.  (Loud  applause.) 
Gentlemen,  nature  comes  forward  to  aid  such  an  aspiration.  Here  is  the 
great  Mediterranean  of  the  continent— an  arm  of  the  ocean  reaching  far 


43 

inland  over  the  mighty  channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  ascending  rapids  and 
falls,  through  a  vast  expanse  of  inland  seas,  until,  in  the  far  Superior,  like 
an  index  of  nature  and  of  Providence,  it  points  to  the  Pacific.  What  that 
great  estuary  of  Southern  Europe,  the  Mediterranean — with  its  promon- 
tories, its  bays,  its  facilities  of  navigation — has  been  to  the  civilization  of 
Asia  and  Europe  and  the  world,  this  great  expansion  of  the  Atlantic 
through  the  heart  of  the  continent  ought  to  be,  and  will  be,  in  the  destiny 
and  development  of  the  States  that  cluster  along  its  shining  margin. 
(Applause.)  You  here  in  Maine  stand  as  an  interval  between  the  maritime 
provinces  of  England  facing  the  Atlantic,  and  Canada  toward  the  west, — 
and  the  State  of  Michigan  is  separated  from  New  York  likewise  by  an 
interval  of  English  territory.  There  has  been,  happily,  no  discord  of 
material  inte  rests,  and  this  magnificent  harbor  of  Portland  is  now  recog- 
nized as  a  great  pivotal  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the  interior,  because,  by 
international  exertions,  by  an  international  enterprise,  by  a  combination  of 
English  and  American  capital,  zeal,  and  energy,  you  are  bound  by  links  of 
iron  to  this  mighty  channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence  (applause);  and  we  of  the 
West  are  gratified,  that,  in  the  true  spirit  of  international  amity,  the  distant 
port  of  Halifax,  the  sentinel  and  garrison  town  of  England  on  this 
continent,  is  soon  to  be  linked  with  this  harbor  of  Portland,  by  an  enter- 
prise properly  called  European  and  American,  for  it  is  international  in  its 
conception  and  execution,  and  it  will  be  international  in  all  its  results. 

Gentlemen,  I»speak  for  the  St.  Lawrence.  There  is  an  empire  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  irrespective  of  political  distinctions  or  of  political  boundaries. 
Every  converging  State  and  Province  that  looks  out  upon  that  mighty 
stream  and  its  great  expanse  of  seas,  is  a  constituent  of  the  commercial  em- 
pire of  the  St.  Lawrence.  From  the  remote  gulf  of  the  name  to  the  far- 
thest verge  of  Superior,  that  whole  channel  is  common  to  the  commerce 
and  intercourse  of  these  people.  We  who  sit  upon  its  sources,  feel  that 
by  international  right,  by  the  law  of  nations,  we  are  proprietors,  almost 
equally  with  those  States  through  which  the  channel  of  the  lower  stream 
passes,— proprietors  in  its  current  and  its  commerce;  and  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  this  Convention,  probably  through  a  committee  raised  for  that 
purpose,  to  bring  forward  distinctly  the  idea  of  the  utilization,  by  the  aid 
of  ship  canals,  of  that  mighty  stream  from  its  mouth  to  its  source.  And, 
sir,  we  in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  who  sit  upon  the  tributaries  and  pri- 
mal sources  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  look  equally  to  Ottawa  and  to  Washing- 
ton, and,  in  some  degree,  to  England,  for  all  measures  of  public  improve- 
ment which  will  pass  the  flags  of  all  nations,  the  ships  of  all  the  world, 
from  the  ocean  to  the  remote  heads  of  Lake  Superior.  We  care  not 
whether  it  is  the  Niagara  Ship  Canal,  upon  the  soil  of  New  York,  or  the 
Welland  Canal,  upon  the  soil  of  Ontario.  The  enterprise  that  first  enables 
a  vessel  of  a  thousand  tons  burden  to  pass  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  whether 
it  be  accomplished  by  the  energy  of  oui-  Canadian  neighbors,  or  by  that  of 
the  American  people,  shall  receive  the  plaudits  of  the  West.    (Loud  ap- 


44 

plause.)  That  is  the  commercial  prize  which  we  ask,  and  we  ask  it  from 
every  government,  from  every  jurisdiction;  and,  sir,  we  feel  that  when  the 
marine  of  the  world  can  pass,  without  breaking  bulk,  through  the  enlarged 
locks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  through  the  Welland  Canal  or  the  Niagara 
Canal,  through  the  deepened  channel  of  the  St.  Clair  flats,  through  the 
deepened  channel  of  the  Superior  Canal,  to  the  remotest  bounds  of  that 
inland  navigation,  we  shall  have  the  leverage  by  which  we  shall  compel 
the  proud  city  of  New  York  to  join  us,  by  the  improvement  of  her  own 
canals,  upon  a  scale  of  equal  magnificence.  (Applause.)  I  do  not  look  to 
the  nation  alone.  It  is  the  happy  providence  of  this  question,  that  the  co- 
operation of  States  with  the  nation  has  hitherto  been  witnessed,  and  will 
hereafter  be  witnessed.  It  was  the  empire  State  of  New  York  that  linked 
the  waters  of  the  Hudson  with  Lake  Erie,  by  which  the  genius  of  De  Witt 
Clinton  gave  an  overmastering  impulse  to  the  industry  of  the  West.  It 
may  be  that  the  enterprising  spirit  of  the  same  State  of  New  York,  when 
the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  through  all  its  reaches  is  brought  to 
the  scale  I  have  described,  will  be  eager  to  meet  the  people  of  Canada  and 
the  West  more  than  half  way,  I  remember  very  well  the  Niagara  Ship 
Canal  Convention,  held  in  the  city  of  Chicago  in  1863.  The  man  who, 
since  De  Witt  Clinton,  has  been  more  closely  identified  with  the  public 
works  of  New  York  than  any  other,— I  mean  Mr.  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,— 
was  there,  regarding  with  distrust  the  demand  of  the  cities  of  the  West 
for  such  national  measures  as  should  secure  to  us  this  great  channel  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  utilizing  it,  and  making  it  available  for  our  exportations. 
With  patriotic  fervor,  with  sentiments  which  all  respected,  he  appealed  to 
the  men  of  the  West  not  to  encourage  the  movement  of  our  commerce 
through  foreign  territory;  and  when  we  remarked,  that  our  object  was  to 
get  out,  to  find  a  great  channel  for  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  that  if 
Canada,  or  even  England,  first  came  forward  and  secured  such  a  route,  it 
should  receive  our  first  acknowledgment,  he  said,  in  a  spirit  of  opposition, 
"  The  city  of  New  York,  before  she  will  let  the  commerce  of  the  West  go 
through  the  channels  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  will  enlarge  her  canals  to  ship 
dimensions,  and  make  them  free!"  A  threat  which  was  by  no  means  alarm- 
ing to  those  whom  he  addressed!  So  here,  my  own  belief  is,  tliat  this  ship 
canal  question,  this  question  of  aflfording  the  facilities  to  pass  a  vessel  with 
a  tonnage  of  a  thousand  tons  through  to  Lake  Superior,  is  not  only  the 
key  to  the  canal  policy  of  New  York,  but  is  the  key  also  to  the  railroad 
policy  of  the  northern  frontier.  When  you  see  the  products  of  the  West 
steaming  by  you,  along  the  channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  you,  actuated  by 
the  same  spirit  which  Mr.  Ruggles  illustrate<l,  will  throw  out  your  iron 
bands,  and  link  the  harbors  of  Boston,  of  Portland,  and  Halifax  with  that 
channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  with  the  navigation  of  the  lakes  and  the  far 
West.  And  we  who  look  to  you  from  our  standpoint,  two  thousand  miles 
away,  must  not  be  expected  to  know  even  the  designation  of  the  railroads  ' 
by  which  you  exi)ect  to  do  it.    We  expect  to  see  more  than  one.    I  expect 


45 

to  see  the  Adirondacks  flanked  on  the  south;  I  expect  to  see,  on  the  north, 
a  line  making  a  direct  communication  between  the  port  where  we  stand 
to-day  and  the  river  St.  Lawrence.  (Applause.)  I  expect,  also,  in  com- 
bination with  the  European  and  North  American  Railway,— the  success- 
ful accomplishment  of  which  is  now  assured, — I  expect  to  see  the  Atlantic 
and  St.  Lawrence  Raih'oad,  the  old  connecting  link  with  Montreal,  not  only 
utilized  as  heretofore,  but  placed  in  a  position  of  still  greater  usefulness, 
as  one  of  the  links  in  the  great  chain  of  communication  between  this  sea- 
board and  tlie  teeming  "West. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  pass  beyond  the  limits  of  those 
lakes, — this  great  Mediterranean  of  the  continent.  Having  thus,  by  this 
combination  of  interests,  by  these  joint  efforts  of  all  governments  and 
peoples  interested,  reached  the  far  interior  of  this  continental  navigation, 
there  extends  west  and  north-west,  partly  over  American  territory  and 
partly  over  English  territory,  a  district  as  large  as  European  Russia,  and 
capable  of  being  developed  into  an  immense  wheat-growing  domain. 
There  is  an  area  of  country  equal  to  all  Russia  north  of  the  great  sea-port 
of  Odessa,  which,  beyond  Chicago  and  Milwaukee,  has  but  just  been 
touched  by  the  husbandman,  hardly  reached  by  the  reaper.  Yet  over  that 
immense  district  the  emigration  of  two  continents  is  to  pass.  In  that 
district,  extending  to  the  latitude  of  55  deg.,  five  or  six  degrees  beyond  our 
present  national  boundary,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  to  latitude 
60  deg.  on  the  Pacific  slope,  the  granary  of  the  world  will  lie.  Its  develop- 
ment has  just  commenced — it  is  in  the  immediate  future.  The  men  of  the 
West  will  assure  you,  that,  looking  to  what  we  see  all  around  us  there, — 
to  the  character  of  the  climate,  to  all  the  conditions  of  industrial  progress, 
— there  will,  within  ten  years,  be  a  larger  exportation  of  breadstuffs  from 
Lake  Superior  than  there  is  now  from  Lake  Michigan.  A  great  interior 
port  is  destined  to  rise  upon  the  western  terminal  line  of  Lake  Superior, 
reaching  far  over  this  new  north-west,  this  interior,  as  large  as  eight  States 
of  the  size  of  Ohio.  It  is  through  that  mighty  lake,  that  inland  sea  of  the 
north-west,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  breadstuffs  to  meet  your  demand' 
and  the  demands  of  Europe,  is  to  pass.  And,  sir,  when  we  have  seen 
hitherto,  a  combination  of  interests  and  efforts,  of  an  international 
character,  which  have  produced  the  development  of  the  East,  we  ask 
that  by  some  means  there  shall  be  secured  a  similar  co-ordination  of 
agencies  to  reach  and  develop  the  great  and  teeming  North-west. 

So  far,  I  am  not  conscious  of  having  offended  the  sensibilities  of  any 
gentleman  in  this  hall;  but,  sir,  frankness  requires  from  me,  upon  this 
platform,  to  add  some  words  which  may  be  criticised  by  our  provincial 
friends.  I  have  thought  much  whether  I  should  not  leave  those  words 
unsaid;  but  I  know  these  gentlemen  personally,  and  my  long  intercourse 
with  the  public  and  business  men  of  Canada  warrants  me  in  throwing 
myself  upon  their  indulgence  in  what  I  am  about  to  say. 

Our  sympathies  are  with  any  attempt  to  unite  under  a  common  govern- 


46 

ment  different  communities,  with  different  interests.  The  confederation  of 
Canada,  like  the  organization  of  our  fathers  in  1787,  is  an  application  of  the 
maxim  "  in  union  is  strength."  But  if  England,  as  the  imperial  mother  of 
States  upon  this  continent,  or  if  Canada,  as  a  confederation  of  States,  with 
existing  relations  to  the  mother  country,  assume  a  continental  attitude, 
assume  to  extend  political  jurisdiction  to  the  Pacific,  it  is  incumbent  both 
upon  England  and  Canada  to  rise  to  the  level  of  the  whole  argument;  it  is 
incumbent  upon  them  to  meet  and  discharge  the  responsibilities  of  so  com- 
manding a  position.  The  American  Government,  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
civil  war,  adopted  measures  to  bind  its  western  territories  together  by  a 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  carry  American  institutions  and  enterprise  to  the 
borders  of  the  Pacific,  and  open  a  communication  with  China  and  Japan ; 
and  we  shall  look  to  England  and  the  representatives  of  England  upon 
this  continent  to  take  their  great  North-west,  their  moiety  of  the  grain 
district  of  the  continent,  and  apply  a  little  of  the  energy  to  its  development 
which,  under  the  stimulus  of  the  cotton  fam^ine,  Great  Britain  applied  to 
the  development  of  India.  England  can  put  five  hundred  millions  of 
cai)ital  into  five  thousand  miles  of  railway  over  the  peninsula  of  Hindos- 
stan,  but  she  seems  unconscious  of  the  great  empire  which  she  has  upon 
this  continent  west  of  the  lakes,  and  puts  forth  no  effort  corresponding  in 
magnitude  to  the  interests  involved  for  the  development  of  her  resources, 
her  wealth,  and  her  population  upon  her  own  territory  in  North  America. 
Sir,  that  state  of  things  must  not  last.  We  will  welcome  England  side  by 
side  with  ourselves  to  co-operate  with  us,  as  you  have  co-operated  here  at 
the  East,  side  by  side  and  shoulder  to  shoulder,  in  the  development  of  your 
mutual  interests;  but  she  must  not  lag  behind.  If  England  extends  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  to  the  Pacific  coast,  she  must,  in  justice  to  the  people 
over  whom  that  jurisdiction  will  be  extended,  lay  down  a  railroad  line, 
must  send  forth  the  surveyor,  must  initiate  and  develop  a  policy  of  inter- 
communication which,  within  ten  years,  shall  link  the  Eastern  Provinces 
with  the  Pacific  coast.  It  is  her  manifest  duty  to  do  this;  and,  let  me  add, 
if  England  and  Canada  will  not  do  it,  it  will  yet  be  done.  (Applause.) 
Reverdy  Johnson  sails  from  the  Chesapeake  with  the  good  wishes  of 
every  American.  He  avows  that  his  mission  to  England  is  peace,  and  we 
all  sympathize  in  that  mission.  But,  at  the  same  time,  to  make  that  peace 
permanent  upon  this  continent,  England  must  remove  all  possible  grounds 
of  collision  in  the  north-west.  Upon  the  frontier  of  my  own  State,  of 
Minnesota,  in  the  heart  of  this  continent,  there  is  an  Engli.sh  colony  that 
dates  from  1812,  which  is  still  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  fur-tratling 
monopoly.  To  this  settlement — the  Selkirk  settlement — Americans  have 
gone,  attracted  by  its  great  advantages.  Its  communications  are  with  the 
United  States,  and  that  community  of  Selkirk  should  no  longer  be 
neglected.  Beyond,  is  the  Province  of  British  Columbia,  adjacent  to  our 
territories  of  Washington  and  Oregon,  and  our  new  territory  of  Alaska,— 
sandwiched  between  them,— with  a  population  of  thirty  thousand  (whose 


47 

staff  of  ofl&cials  have  piled  up  a  debt  of  two  millions  of  dollars),  who  are 
struggling  under  the  difficulties  of  their  isolated  and  dependent  condition. 
Then  there  is  the  flourishing  territory  of  Montana,  adjacent  to  the  English 
territory  of  the  Saskatchewan,  and  American  miners  are  already  moving 
over  the  frontier.  What  is  the  inevitable  duty,  policy,  and  paramotmt 
interest  of  Great  Britain?  To  secure  the  loyalty  of  her  Western  com- 
munities, to  secure  the  attachment  and  loyalty  of  Selkirk,  of  the 
Saskatchewan,  and  of  British  Columbia,  by  making  them  parties  to  the 
great  movement  for  the  development  of  this  continent.  If  England  says, 
"We  cannot  do  it;"  if  England  says,  "  We  have  done  as  much  as  we  can 
when  we  have  grudgingly  given  a  guaranty  of  twenty  millions  of  dollars 
for  an  intercolonial  road,  and  that  is  to  be  the  limit  of  our  efforts  for  the 
development  of  our  possessions  in  America,"  then  let  England  surrender 
the  territory  to  the  American  people,  accepting  the  proposition  of  the 
Senator  from  Minnesota,  Alexander  Eamsay,  now  resting  in  the  custody 
of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  If  she  deliberately 
declines  to  place  her  North-west  possessions  in  the  circle  of  the  world's 
activities,  let  her  come.forward  frankly  and  repeat  the  history  of  Napoleon's 
cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States. 

But,  Mr.  President,  when  I  see,  as  I  have  seen  to-day,  the  character  of 
the  gentlemen  representing  these  provinces,  however  informally,  in  this 
Convention;  when  I  appreciate,  as  we  all  appreciate,  the  imperial  pride 
and  spirit  of  the  English  people  and  government;  when  I  look  upon  her 
triumphs  in  India  and  the  world  over,  wherever  her  banner  has  followed 
the  drum-beat  of  her  regiments,  I  am  willing  to  believe  that  she  will  "  rise 
to  the  height  of  this  great  argument,"  and  that  she  will  undertake  as  much 
for  the  development  of  North-west  British  America,  as  she  has  done  upon 
all  the  other  fields  of  her  activity.    (Applause.) 

And  now,  a  few  words  upon  the  commercial  relations  of  these  Provinces 
with  the  States.  Here,  again,  I  tread  upon  delicate  ground,— not  so  much 
with  reference  to  our  friends  in  the  Provinces  as  with  reference  to  parties, 
as  they  are  divided  in  the  United  States.  I  take  up  the  Chicago  platform, 
and  I  see  there  a  pledge  to  simplify  and  reduce  taxation  as  soon  as  the 
public  exigencies  will  allow.  I  take  up  the  New  York  platform,  and  I  find 
there  the  same  pledge  by  the  rival  party,  almost  in  the  same  terms.  The 
language  of  both  these  platforms  will  bear  but  one  construction,  and  that 
is,  that  in  the  judgment  of  both  the  great  parties  of  the  country,  the  pres- 
ent taxation  is  excessive  and  unnecessary,  and  that  it  can  be  simplified 
and  reduced,  not  only  in  regard  to  the  excise,  but  in  regard  to  the  duties 
on  imports.  And,  sir,  let  me  say,  that  all  through  the  West,  the  belief  has 
taken  such  strong  hold  of  our  people,  that  an  average  duty  of  fifty  per 
cent  upon  importations  is  unnecessary,  is  a  disadvantage  rather  than  an 
advantage  to  the  revenue,  that  we  are  not  prepared  for  a  renewal  of  the 
reciprocity  treaty  of  1854.  We  feel  in  the  West  that  New  England,  if  she 
demand  high  duties  for  the  encouragement  of  her  manufactures,  must  at 


48 

the  same  time  submit  to  that  uniform  and  impartial  reduction  of  taxation 
which  the  West  and  South,  and  the  Pacific  States  will  soon  demand.  I 
believe  that  absolute  free  trade  has  been  indefinitely  postponed  on  this 
continent  by  the  exigencies  of  war.  The  West  is  not  for  free  trade,  but 
the  West  is  for  such  a  tariff  as  Henry  Clay,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  civil 
commotion,  could  propose  for  the  country,  with  entire  consistency  and  har- 
mony with  his  own  political  record.  One-half  of  the  present  tariff  is  the 
standard  to  which  the  minds  of  the  American  peoi)le  are  coming  as  sufl&- 
cient  for  the  needs  of  the  government,  suflScient  for  every  private  industry, 
and  demanded  for  the  advancement  of  the  general  prosperity.  (Applause.) 
And  now,  what  does  your  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  say?  He  is  a  native 
of  Maine,  educated  in  Maine,  in  full  sympathy  with  New  England,  although 
a  Western  man.  He  has  said  frankly,  from  the  beginning  of  the  recipro- 
city discussion,  that  the  treaty  of  1854  is  out  of  the  question.  We  have 
the  duty  of  preparing  an  adequate  revenue  system  before  us.  We  have  a 
commission  now  in  existence  for  the  revision  of  the  revenue  system,  both 
internal  and  external.  It  is  the  belief  of  Secretary  McCulloch,— he  has  so 
said  in  his  report  for  18(56, — that  when  that  revision  is  completed,  when  the 
excise  is  simplified  and  reduced,  when  the  tariflf  is  placed  where  all  sec- 
tions and  all  interests  will  be  and  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  its  terms,  then 
it  will  have  reached  a  point  where  Canada,  with  her  interests,  can  assim- 
ilate her  revenue  system  to  it,  and  thus  conform  the  systems  on  both  sides 
of  the  frontier  to  the  same  standard.  (Applause.)  By  simplifying  and 
reducing  the  taxes,  and  coming  down  to  the  scale  of  Clay's  compromise 
tariff"  of  1833,  we  relieve  the  industry  of  the  East  and  the  West,  we  reach 
a  tariff"  which  will  be  the  tariff"  of  the  future,  or  for  a  generation,  at  least, 
and  which  will  therefore  be  satisfactory  to  every  wise  and  true  frieiid  of 
the  manufacturing  interests.  When  "the  McCulloch  policy  has  reached 
that  jmint,  a  thorough  revision  and  simplification  of  the  revenue  system  of 
the  United  States,  Can<ada  can  well  accept  the  same  revenue  system,  and 
thus  the  first  step  towards  a  commercial  union  of  the  two  countries  will 
have  been  secured.    (Applause.) 

But  I  am  confronted  with  arguments  on  the  policy  of  protection.  I  am 
warned  that  the  scale  of  duties  which  is  sufficient  for  the  Australian 
province  of  Victoria,  where  600,000  people  raise  a  revenue  of  fifteen 
millions  by  a  tariff"  of  less  than  twenty  per  cent,  is  not  sufficient  for  this 
country.  I  am  informed  that  the  protective  party  of  this  country  will  not 
assent  to  it.  Then  let  us  have  a  compromise.  If  you  so  distrust  the 
industry,  the  skill,  and  the  enterprise  of  the  American  people,  that  you 
are  unwilling  to  compete  with  the  enterprise,  the  labor,  and  the  skill  of 
Europe,— if  the  idea  that  protection  is  necessary  against  tlie  overcrowded 
population  of  Europe,  and  perhaps  of  Asia,  still  has  dominion  over  the 
minds  of  the  people,— and  I  see  everywhere  evidences  of  the  strength 
which  that  idea  has  attained  in  the  public  mind,— then  meet  the  free-traders 
of  the  West  by  the  adoption  of  an  exceptional  policy  in  respect  to  the 


49 

countries  immediately  adjoining  us  upon  this  continent.  Retain,  if  you 
please,  the  tariff  at  an  advanced  scale  against  foreign  competition,  hut 
adopt  a  simpler  and  lower  revenue  standard  in  regard  to  Canada,  Cuba, 
Mexico,  the  South  American  Republics,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands.  We 
can  adopt  free  trade  upon  this  continent,  even  if  we  maintain  the  barriers 
of  protection  against  the  old  world.  (Applause.)  An  average  horizontal 
duty  of  five  per  cent  upon  all  the  products  of  Canada,  Cuba,  Mexico,  the 
South  American  Republics,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  would  not  only 
afford  ample  protection  to  every  well-grounded  and  well-established 
interest  of  the  American  people,  but  it  would  revive  your  commerce,  it 
would  invigorate  your  ship-yards,  it  would  extend  your  home  markets,  it 
would  put  the  policy  of  free  trade  again  upon  its  feet,  under  favorable 
conditions  to  run  its  race  with  the  opposite  policy  of  protection,  and  every 
thoughtful  American  citizen  would  be  in  a  situation  to  take  stock  of  the 
result,  and  determine  which  is  the  best  policy  for  the  final  adoption  of  the 
American  people.  And,  fellow-citizens,  having  discussed,  at  greater 
length  than  I  proposed,  the  commercial  questions  which  are  said  to  be 
strictly  international,  I  venture  to  predict  that  Reverdy  Johnson,  a  fitting 
successor  of  the  noble  Adams,  and  men  like  him,  actuated  by  the  same 
spirit,  will  so  atljust  the  future  relations  of  this  people  with  Great  Britain 
and  with  Canada,  that  we  can  go  forward  hereafter,  as  we  have  hitherto 
done,  in  the  honorable  struggle  for  supremacy  and  mastery  in  all  the 
humane  arts  of  Christian  civilization.  That  is  our  mission, — a  mission 
which  will  illustrate  the  conjoint  flags  of  the  mother  country  and  of  this 
great  Republic  of  the  "West;  and  we  can  unite,  not  only  in  deepening  ship 
canals,  not  only  in  building  railways  across  opposing  frontiers,  but  in  dis- 
mantling the  frontier,  and  in  levelling  along  this  whole  border  of  the  lakes 
everything  which  looks  like  a  threat  of  aggression,  everything  which  looks 
like  a  complication  that  may  lead  to  war.  (Applause.)  Here  is  to  be  the 
triumph  of  peace ;  and  if  Russia  can  send  her  diplomatic  notes  to  European 
Cabinets  requesting  them  to  unite  in  prohibiting  the  use  of  explosive 
bullets,  we  here  can  have  sufficient  faith  in  ourselves  and  in  our  children 
to  dedicate  this  frontier  and  the  interests  of  this  frontier  to  peace, — peace 
present  and  x^eace  future.  I  look  abroad  over  Europe, — Europe,  rocked 
from  immemorial  time  with  the  contests  of  rival  powers  and  rival  dynas- 
ties, speaking  different  languages  and  holding  different  faiths, — and  I  can 
see  France  and  England  bringing  the  minds  of  their  best  engineers  to  the 
question  whether  a  tunnel  shall  not  be  constructed  under  the  dividing 
channel;  I  can  see  those  immemorial  enemies,  with  Austria  and  even 
Turkey  conjoined,  uniting  in  a  series  of  measures  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  Danube,  making  it  a  great  ship  canal;  I  can  see  France  and 
Italy,  although  they  may,  on  other  questions,  have  their  hands  on  each 
other's  throats,  uniting  to  build  an  iron  road  through  the  heart  of  Mount 
Cenis;  and  I  want  to  know  whether,  with  the  example  you  have  given  us 
of  the  European  and  North  American  Railway,  with  communication  with 
4 


50 

Montreal,  partly  over  English  and  partly  over  American  territory,— I  want 
to  know  whether  it  is  impossible  for  the  Cabinets  of  London  and  Washing- 
ton and  Ottawa  to  unite  in  a  policy  which  shall  combine,  by  a  common 
efibrt  of  zeal  and  enterprise,  this  great  empire  of  the  St.  Lawrence  with  the 
magnificent  harbor  of  Paget  Sound,  and  the  rising  glories  of  Asiatic 
civilization.    (Loud  applause.) 

Hon.  P.  T.  Washburn,  from  the  committee  appoint- 
ed to  consider  and  report  upon  the  order  of  business 
for  the  Convention,  submitted  their  report.     He  said : 

I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  before  reading  the  report  of  the  Committee, 
that  Messrs.  Fisher,  Patterson,  Nash,  and  Brecken,  from  the  British  Prov- 
inces, from  motives  of  delicacy,  thought  it  prudent  to  decline  to  act  upon 
the  committee,  in  the  present  position  of  certain  home  questions,  and  asked 
to  be  excused  from  serving  upon  it. 

The  Committee  respectfully  recommended  that 
committees  be  selected  to  prepare  and  report  resolu- 
tions upon  the  following  topics  : 

Ist.  Railroads  across  the  Continent. 
2d.  Lake,  Iliver,  and  Canal  Navigation. 
3d.  International  Commercial  Relations. 

The  Commiitee  recommend  that  the  first  committee 
consist  of  nine,  and  the  others  of  seven  members 
each. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Neal,  the  request  of  the  gentle- 
men from  the  Provinces  was  granted,  and  the  report 
of  the  committee  adopted. 

Senator  Corbett  moved  that  the  President  appoint 
these  committees. 

This  motion  prevailed,  and  the  chair  announced 
the  committees  as  follows  : 

On  Railkoads  acboss  the  Contikent. 

Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett, Portland,  Oregon. 

"      Henry  T.  Blow, St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"     Peter  T.  Washburn, Woodstock,  Vt. 


51 

Geo.  L.  Ward,  Esq., Boston,  Mass. 

John  A.  Poor,  Esq., Portland,  Me. 

Hamilton  A.  Hill,  Esq., Boston,  Mass. 

Hon.  Eichard  D.  Eice, Augusta,  Me. 

Willard  P.  Phillips,  Esq., Salem,  Mass. 

Hon.  E.  A.  Straw,        Manchester,  N.  H. 

On  Lake  and  Eivee  Navigation. 

lion.  James  W.  Taylor, St.  Paul,  Minn. 

"      Thomas  Allen, ' .  St,  Louis,  Mo. 

E.  H.  Anderson,  Esq., Detroit,  Mich. 

George  O.  Carpenter, Boston,  Mass. 

Hon.  J.  B.  Brown, Portland,  Me. 

John  Cain,  Esq.,       Eutland,  Vt. 

T.  C.  Hersey,  Esq., Portland,  Me 

On  International  Commercial  Eelations. 

Hon.  Wm.  H.  Craig, Detroit,  Mich. 

Wm.  Deering,  Esq.,       Portland,  Me. 

J.  H.  Converse,  Esq., Boston,  Mass. 

Gen.  TVm.  J.  Palmer, St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Hon.  F.  Smyth, .    .    .  Manchester,  N.  H. 

"      Amasa  Walker, No.  Brookfield,  Mass. 

"      Eugene  Pringle, Jackson,  Mich. 

Mr.  Hamilton  A.  Hill,  of  Boston,  moved  that 
gentlemen  having  resolutions  to  present  be  requested 
to  hand  them  to  the  appropriate  committees  for  con- 
sideration. 

This  motion  was  carried,  and  the  Convention  then, 
on  motion  of  Gen.  Washburn,  adjourned. 


Second  Day. 

Wednesday,  August  5. 

The  Convention  reassembled  at  half-past  10  o'clock, 
and  was  called  to  order  by  the  President. 

The  committees  on  business  not  being  ready  to 
report,  the  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks,  of  New  York,  was, 


62 

on  motion  of  Mr.  H.  P.  Deane,  of  Portland,  invited  to 
address  the  Convention. 

SPEECH  OF   HON.  ERASTUS  BROOKS. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,— Althongh.  I  was  invited 
by  one'of  your  number  to  be  present  during  the  deliberations  of  this 
Convention,  I  must  say,  in  all  candor  and  in  all  frankness,  this  was  hardly 
the  entertainment  I  expected.  Sir,  I  came,  in  good  faith,  to  observe  and  to 
listen,  and  not  to  attempt  to  teach  or  instruct  the  Convention,  if  I  were 
able  to  do  so.  How  far  this  is  a  national  convention,  how  far  it  is  an  inter- 
national convention,  how  far  it  is  sectional  or  local,  has  not  yet  been 
developed  by  anything  that  has  transpired. 

Sir,  I  am  in  my  native  State,  and  I  naturally  feel  all  the  interest  that 
one  attaches  to  the  fact  that  he  stands,  as  it  were,  upon  his  native  heath 
again.  I  never  have  forgotten  the  city  where  I  was  born;  I  certainly  have 
never  been  indifferent  to  the  interests  of  this  city,  or  of  the  State  of  Maine, 
and  I  can  say,  in  all  truth  and  in  all  sincerity,  in  the  words  of  the  poet — 

"  Where'er  I  roam,  whatever  realms  to  see, 
My  heart,  untravelled,  fondly  turns  to  thee." 

I  also  remember,  sir,  that  although  born  here,  my  interests,  my  business, 
my  family  relations,  my  present  and  my  future,  belong  to  another  State 
and  to  another  locality— the  State  of  New  York  and  the  city  of  New  York; 
and  I  do  not  think,  in  a  great  country  like  this,  so  vast  and  so  extensive 
that  one  can  hardly  comprehend  it«  geograjdiical  relations  or  its  diversity 
of  interests,  that  there  is  any  occasion  for  much  jealousy  in  regard  to  the 
superior  position  or  advancement  of  one  section  of  country  over  another. 
There  is  ample  room  and  verge  enough  for  us  all,— for  the  great  West,  from 
which  you,  sir,  come,  and  from  which  we  heard  yesterday ;  for  the  great 
South-west  and  the  South;  for  the  great  central  States;  for  the  North-west; 
and  for  the  New  England  States  especially.  I  think  we  may  say  for  all,  in 
regard  to  material  interests  as  well  as  in  regard  to  our  moral  relations, — 
"  The  world  is  all  before  us  where  to  choose 
Our  place  of  rest,  and  Providence  our  guide." 

Sir,  something  was  said  yesterday  by  the  gentleman  from  Minnesota 
(Mr.  Taylor)  in  regard  to  questions  looking,  as  I  thought,  to  a  geographical 
advantage  incident  to  the  development  of  some  of  the  material  interests  of 
a  part  of  the  country.  He  was  pleased,  if  he  could,  to  invoke  a  more 
general  philanthropic  spirit,  or  a  spirit  of  a  larger  interest,  on  the  part  of 
the  people  of  the  British  Provinces.  Sir,  if  that  gentleman  lived  where  I 
live,  he  would  see  the  force  and  etFect,  not  only  of  British  enterprise  and 
British  men,  but  of  British  capital,  to  an  extent  which  would  mortify  his 
.  own  pride  as  an  American  citiaen,  however  much  it  may  serve  to  develop 


63 

the  energy  and  genius  of  those  who  were  born  under  another  flag.  Sir,  it 
is  a  mortifying  fact  to  me,  as  a  citizen  of  New  York,  that  there  are  fifty 
British  and  German  and  French  steamers  sailing  from  the  port  of  New 
York,  attached  to  the  Bremen,  the  Hamhurgh,  the  Havre,  the  Brest,  and 
the  British  lines,  while  the  American  flag  does  not  float  from  the  masthead 
of  a  single  steamer.  That  is  a  very  mortifying  fact  to  me;  I  say  it  in  your 
presence,  and  I  trust  that  the  time  will  come,  indeed,  that  it  is  not  very  far 
distant,  when  some  different  policy,  some  higher  sense  of  national  duty  to 
the  flag,  to  the  interests  of  the  country,  to  its  moral  and  material  power 
will  prevail,  to  an  extent  at  least  which  shall  afford  protection  to  American 
ships  and  American  steamers,  and  to  whatever  is  American. 

Sir,  as  I  have  said  already,  I  have  no  jealousy  of  the  success,  or  of  the 
enterprise,  or  of  the  vigor  of  other  people.  I  have  the  natural  instinct 
which  every  man  has.  I  wish  well  to  all  the  world,  but  if  there  are  two 
men,  or  two  States,  or  two  countries,  only  one  of  which  is  to  prosper,  I 
wish  that  prosperity  may  accrue  to  my  own  country  rather  than  to  another. 
(Applause.)  And  in  that  sense,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  say,  develop  in 
this  country  tha^  degree  of  ekill  and  judgment  and  political  forecast  which 
will  result  in  carrying  out  the  doctrine  taught  to  me  as  a  boy,  years  and 
years  ago,  when  I  was  a  type-setter  in  this  city  upon  a  paper  called  "  The 
Yankee,"  and  my  friend  brought  out  from  England  that  old  maxim  of 
Jeremy  Bentham,  which  enjoins  the  duty  of  securing  "  the  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number  of  people."  There  is  the  touchstone  of  all  true 
philosophy  in  politics,  in  morals,  in  material  enterprise. 

Sir,  the  gentleman  who  spoke  yesterday  (Mr.  Taylor)  was  also  pleased 
to  make  some  remarks  in  regard  to  Canada,  and  in  regard  to  what  he 
thought  might  be  a  wise  policy  in  view  of  the  relations  existing  between 
the  British  people  of  the  Provinces  and  the  American  people.  I  remem- 
ber, sir,  that  during  the  bloody  civil  war  through  which  we  have  passed, 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  the  exercise,  in  my  judgment,  of  a 
mere  wanton  power,  and  in  a  spirit  of  retaliation  (I  hope  I  shall  offend 
no  one  by  the  plainness  of  my  remarks,  for  we  are  to  have  here,  I  suppose, 
diversity  of  opinions  expressed)  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  I  say, 
actuated,  as  I  believe,  by  a  spirit  of  retaliation,  repealed  at  the  end  of  the 
ten  years,  to  which  it  was  limited,  unless  renewed,  the  reciprocity  treaty 
made  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  for  the  regulation  of 
the  trade  between  the  colonies  and  the  American  States.  I  believe  that 
that  was  an  unwise  act.  I  thought  at  the  time  that  the  motive  was  not  a 
good  one  which  induced  Congress  to  repeal  that  measure.  I  think  so  still. 
I  believe  it  disturbed  not  only  the  amicable  relations  between  the  Prov- 
inces and  the  United  States,  but  their  material  relations.  I  know  that  the 
effect  was  very  disastrous  upon  the  trade  of  my  own  State;  and  I  know 
that  we  have  paid  a  great  deal  more  for  British  lumber  and  British  com- 
modities, and  for  many  things  that  enter  into  the  consumption  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  since  the  repeal  of  that  treaty,  than  we  paid  before;  and,  for 


54 

one,  I  would  be  glad  to  see  that  treaty  restored,  or  some  better  one  made 
between  the  Provinces  and  the  United  States.  (Loud  applause.)  In  a 
word,  sir,  I  believe  in  that  old  maxim  of  Thomas  JeflFerson,  that  he  who 
makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  but  one  grew  before,  is  a  public 
benefactor,  and  that  the  effect  of  that  treaty  was  healthy  and  beneficial 
upon  the  people  of  the  two  sections  of  country. 

Sir,  there  was  another  sentiment  uttered  upon  this  platform,  yesterday, 
with  which  I  sympathize.  I,  too,  shall  be  glad  to  hail  the  day  when  all 
these  manifestations  of  war,  such  as  armed  vessels  upon  your  lakes,  nomi- 
nally for  the  purpose  of  preserving  neutrality,  but  in  reality  a  threat 
between  the  one  side  of  the  lakes  and  the  other,  shall  have  passed  away, 
and  when  the  bond  of  union  between  the  British  people  on  our  borders 
and  our  own  people  shall  be  trade,  commerce,  interest,  self-protection,  and 
not  those  manifestations  which  look  rather  to  war  than  to  peace.  (Applause.) 

Sir,  it  is  said  that 

"  Mountains  interposed 

Blake  enemies  of  nations,  that  bad  else 
Like  kindred  drops,  been  minf^led  into  one." 

It  is  the  purpose  of  conventions  like  this  so  to  bring  down  the  mountains 
so  to  lift  up  the  valleys,  so  to  unite  two  sections  of  country  by  those  iron 
bands  which  give  such  quick  transit  for  men  and  trade,  so  to  dig  out  canals 
between  different  States  abd  sections  of  country,  as  to  remove  all  those 
jealousies  which  otherwise  belong  to  States-  Sir,  I  think  it  is  the  experi- 
ence of  every  man  who  has  traveled,  that  the  more  he  sees  of  his  country, 
and  the  more  he  sees  of  the  world,  the  more  liberalized  he  becomes  to- 
ward those  not  of  his  own  faith  and  household,  and  to  those  not  of  his 
own  country.  In  that  spirit,  I  always  rejoice  when  I  see  a  convention  called, 
the  object  of  which  is  to  hold  communication  between  men  and  between 
States,  and  even  between  different  parts  of  a  country,  or  different  countries. 
Now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  said  a  word  or  two  of  reciprocity.  "We  are, 
perhaps,  the  youngest  nation  in  the  world;  and,  sir  (let  the  truth  be  spok- 
en), we  are  about  the  proudest  and  most  boastful  people  in  the  world;  and 
the  longer  we  live,— just  as  it  is  with  childhood  passing  into  youth  and 
manhood,— the  wiser  we  shall  grow.  We  have  a  great  many  things  to 
learn  of  each  other,  of  people  who  belong  to  different  States,  and  to  other 
countries.  If  you  should  ask  me  what  the  best  idea  of  reciprocity  was,  I 
should  go  back  to  five  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  quote 
a  sentiment  of  old  Confucius,  of  China,  which  is  to  be  found  in  his  Ana- 
lects, wherein  the  disciple  puts  this  question  to  the  teacher,  "  Is  there  any 
word  known  which  expresses  a  proper  rule  of  action  for  the  government 
of  men?  "  The  answer  of  the  teacher  is  this, —  "  Reciprocity  ;  by  which  I 
mean,"  said  Confucius,  "that  you  should  not  do  unto  others  what  you 
would  not  that  men  should  do  to  you."  A  sentiment  embodied  by  Christ 
himself,  five  hundred  years  later.  (Applause.)  If,  Mr.  President,  we  can 
be  governed  by  some  such  sentiment  as  this,  in  this  Convention,  and  in 


55 

other  conventions  which  may  succeed  this,  there  will  be  no  occasion  for 
my  friend  to  be  jealous  of  New  York,  or  for  New  York  to  be  jealous  of 
New  England  or  the  West. 

Why,  sir,  to  speak  of  the  Chinese  again, — for  I  must  tell  you,  that  as  I 
advance  in  years,  I  become  more  and  more  what  is  called,  in  derision, 
sometimes,  an  "old  fogy,"— I  will  tell  you  that  those  old  people  knew 
many  more  things  in  regard  to  trade  and  commerce  than  we  perhaps  even 
supposed  they  knew.  Some  of  them  have  occurred  to  my  mind  as  I  have 
been  sitting  in  this  Convention.  Eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  the  Chinese 
were  manufacturers  of  paper.  Nine  hundred  years  ago,  they  had  mov- 
able types,  and  printed.  Fourteen  hundred  years  ago,  they  moved  their 
little  vessels  upon  their  waters  by  the  aid  of  the  needle;  and  hundreds  of 
years  before  Christ  poured  water  into  earthen  vessels  at  Cana  in  Galilee, 
they  had  their  porcelain  vases,  as  far  surpassing  anything  which  succeeded 
that  time  for  hundreds  of  years,  as  the  finest  workmanship  of  the  present 
day  excels  the  rude  workmanship  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  We  have,  there- 
fore, something  to  learn  from  olden  times  and  olden  people ;  and  the  reason 
why  I  have  alluded  to  this  subject,  and  to  that  old  country,  in  connection 
with  this  question  of  reciprocity,  is  because  there  has  recently  appeared 
upon  this  American  theatre,  an  embassy  from  that  country,  headed  by  an 
American  citizen,  from  New  England,  to  make  a  treaty  with  another  citizen 
of  America;  and  thus  the  oldest  country  in  the  old  world  comes  to  this 
new  land  of  ours— for  what?  Reciprocal  and  kindly  relations  of  trade. 
(Applause.)  Surely,  Mr.  President,  if  this  old  country,  with  a  population 
of  four  hundred  millions,  who  live  at  less  expense  than  forty  millions  in  the 
United  States,— surely,  if  China  has  done  this,  we  may  learn  something 
from  the  far-oflf  Asiatic  nations. 

I  have  said,  Mr.  President,— if  I  do  not  trespass  too  much  upon  your 
time,— that  there  is  no  occasion  in  the  world  for  one  section  of  this  country 
to  be  jealous  of  the  other.  I  am  only  jealous  when  I  see  such  facts  demon- 
strated before  me  as  I  have  pictured  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  we 
have  been  literally  stripped  of  one-third  of  our  commerce  by  that  central 
power,  the  Federal  Government,  that  should  have  become  the  protector  of 
the  commerce  of  the  world.  Sir,  what  is  commerce?  Some  people  who 
live  upon  the  sea-board,  as  I  do,  regard  commerce  as  merely  the  sailing  of 
ships  across  the  great  Pacific  or  across  the  Atlantic,  or  coastwise  between 
port  and  port,  or  State  and  State.  Others  regard  commerce  as  merely  the 
carrying  of  goods  from  one  country  to  another.  Sir,  these  are  but  the  mere  in- 
cidents of  commerce.  Commerce  relates  to  whatever  grows  on  the  soil  of  the 
country ;  to  whatever  is  mined  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth ;  to  whatever 
improves  mankind;  to  whatever  makes  men  wiser,  happier,  better,  more 
thrifty,  and  more  intelligent  than  they  were  before.  Once  we  were  accus- 
tomed to  say  that  cotton  was  king,  because  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  cotton  was  raised  in  the  Southern  States;  and  when  the  cotton 
trade  was  prostrated  by  the  civil  war,  we  said  that  corn  was  king.    Well, 


56 

sir,  these  are  raonarchs— small  types  of  a  great  whole— particles  in  that 
which  makes  up  the  prosperity  of  a  nation.  Mifchty,  majestic,  fruitful, 
and  powerful  in  their  results  they  may  he,  but  they  are  but  atoms  of  a 
mighty  whole.  Sir,  as  I  have  said,  commerce  relates  to  that  which 
improves,  instructs,  and  benefits  mankind.  And  then  there  is  another 
class  of  people  who  think  that  all  that  is  beneficial,  all  that  gives  pros- 
perity, in  commerce,  relates  merely  to  ships  carrying  the  American  flag, 
and  bearing  the  produce  of  the  United  States  to  Europe — cotton,  it  may  be, 
to  France,  to  England,  or  to  other  ports  of  the  old  world.  And  therein, 
again,  the  commercial  people  of  the  country  greatly  mistake  what  their 
interests  are.  Sir,  I  have  been  trying  to  impart  to  my  people  the  convic- 
tion, strong  upon  my  own  mind  for  twenty  years  and  more,  that  the  inland 
commerce  of  a  country  is  vastly  more  important  to  that  country  than  its 
foreign  commerce.  (Applause.)  Why,  sir,  the  very  element  of  jirosperity 
in  foreign  commerce  is  domestic  commerce.  We  take  a  thousand  bales  of 
cotton  to  the  old  world,— where  did  it  grow?  It  grew  upon  the  plantations 
and  savannas  of  the  South.  We  take  millions  of  bushels  of  com  and 
•wheat  to  England,  Ireland,  and  France,— where  did  it  grow?  In  the  great 
granaries  of  the  West.  We  take  all  the  products  of  our  forests  and  our  soil 
to  the  old  world,  and  yet  the  elements  of  the  resulting  pro8i>erity  were  in 
the  soil  of  the  West,  the  South-west,  and  the  South.  Therefore,  I  say, — 
and  in  saying  it,  I  give  utterance  to  a  truth  which  it  seems  to  me  rarely 
impresses  itself  upon  the  public  mind, — that  however  im]>ortant  foreign 
commerce  may  be,  the  domestic  commerce  of  the  country  is  three  or  four 
times  more  important  than  the  foreign  commerce. 

But,  apart  from  all  that,  the  commerce  which  sails  upon  your  lakes, — 
Ontario,  Erie,  Superior,  Michigan, — and  which  sails  upon  your  canals,  is  in 
value  four  times  that  of  the  commerce  which  is  borne  in  ships  from  the 
sea-ports  of  the  country  to  the  old  world.  Therefore,  a  wise  and  sagacious 
statesman,  in  discussing  and  considering  a  question  of  this  magnitude,  will 
remember  that  the  domestic  commerce  of  the  country  needs  protection, 
needs  fostei-ing  care,  needs  railroads  and  canals,  just  as  much  as  a  sea-port 
like  Portland  or  New  York  needs  liglit-houses  to  keep  the  ships  coming  in 
from  sea  from  striking  against  the  rocks  and  being  stranded  there.  Sir,  I 
often  think  of  the  sentiment  of  John  Rowan,  of  Virginia  (I  think  it  was), 
who,  living  near  the  head  of  the  James  River,  folded  his  arms  and  said, 
with  great  sorrow, "  Would  to  God  that  there  was  some  provision  in  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  that  would  enable  Congress  to  remove 
these  obstructions  from  James  River!"  There  being  no  such  provision  in 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  those  obstructions  have  remained 
there,  I  believe,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  and  perhaps  will  until  some 
newer  light  or  greater  enterprise  settles  down  upon  Richmond,  and  the 
people  find  that  there  is  power  somewhere  to  remove  these  obstructions  to 
commerce  wherever  they  exist.  Nor  have  I  been  educated  in  that  school 
of  politics  which  distinguishes  between  a  great  river  like  the  Ohio,  the 


57 

Mississippi,  the  Missouri,  and  the  sea-coast  of  Maine,  or  the  sea-coast  of  the 
rest  of  tlie  country.  Sir,  there  are  twelve  thousand  miles  of  sea-coast  on 
the  United  States.  No  man  who  ever  took  a  seat  in  Con>i;ress  ever  doubted 
the  power  of  the  Federal  Government  to  build  a  light-h'onse  there,  to  place  a 
light-ship  there,  or  to  do  anything  which  might  improve  the  commercial 
advantages  of  this  country;  and  yet,  when  the  question  comes  up  in  regard 
to  a  river  like  the  Mississippi,  immense  in  its  volume  of  water, ^  perfect 
treasure-house  to  the  lands  lying  on  each  side  of  it,  there  are  thousands  of 
intelligent  men  in  our  country  who  think  there  is  no  power  to  remove  any 
obstruction  which  may  exist  there. 

But,  sir,  I  wander.  I  wish  to  impress  upon  those  to  whom  it  is  my 
privilege  to  address  these  few  and  imperfect  words,  the  truth  to  which  I 
have  already  given  utterance,  that  there  is  no  occasion  for  jealousy 
between  different  States  of  this  Union  in  regard  to  questions  of  internal 
improvement — none  whatever.  Why,  sir,  have  you  ever  comprehended 
he  geographical  extent  of  our  country?  There  are  one  billion,  eight  hundred 
and  thirty-four  millions  of  acres  in  the  present  territory  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  exceeding,  in  geographical  extent,  all  the  civilized  continent  of 
Europe  combined.  From  the  foundation  of  the  Government  to  this  time, 
we  have  sold  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  millions  of  acres,  only  four-fifths 
of  which  have  been  occupied,  and  we  have  granted  to  colleges  and  other 
institutions,  to  the  States  and  to  towns,  for  various  puryjoses,  some  two 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  acres  more;  leaving  one  billion,  four  hundred 
million  acres  and  over,  vastly  over,  to  be  occupied  by  those  who  are  to 
succeed  us.  Sir,  the  outside  estimate  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States  at  the  present  time  is  forty  millions,  and,  as  I  have  said,  China  has 
four  hundred  millions.  There  is  room  for  four  hundred  millions  and  twice 
four  hundred  millions  of  people  in  the  United  States.  The  great  body  of 
this  land  is  capable  of  a  magnificent  production  of  all  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  with  immense  treasures  beneath  the  soil.  But  yesterday,  as  it  were, 
there  was  discovered  in  Alaska  one  of  the  richest  coal-mines  that  has  been 
developed  in  the  entire  length  and  breadth  of  the  United  States.  It  is  hard 
for  the  human  fancy,  even  with  the  broadest  stretch  of  a  vivid  imagination, 
to  comprehend  what  this  country  is  capable  of  Why,  sir,  that  far-off 
State  of  California,  young  as  she  is,  is  to-day  one  of  the  great  granaries  of 
the  world.  She  sends  thousands  and  thousands  of  sacks  of  flour  to  New 
York,  some  of  which  is  used  there,  much  of  it  sent  abroad;  and  she  has 
more  grain  to-day  for  shipment  to  Europe  than  there  can  be  found  ships  to 
carry  it  there.  California,  with  a  population  of  500,000,  is  capable  of  pro- 
ducing all  that  Spain  produces,  having  about  the  same  extent  of  territory, 
and  Spain  has  a  population  of  fourteen  millions  of  people.  Or,  take  the 
State  of  Illinois,  which,  I  believe,  is  represented  in  this  Convention,— a 
State  with  two  millions  and  a  half  of  people,  and  capable  of  supporting 
liberally  and  luxuriously  a  population  of  ten  millions.  Sir,  is  there  any 
occasion  for  one  State  or  one  section  of  such  a  country  to  be  jealous  of 


58 

another?   God  forbid  that  any  such  feeling  should  manifest  itself  anywhere 
on  any  part  of  the  continent  of  America!    (Applause.) 

One  or  two  facts  more,  and  I  will  relieve  your  patience.  Since  1790,  we 
have  had  an  emigrant  population  in  the  United  States  of  six  million,  seven 
hundred  and  odd  thousand  people,  and  before  the  close  of  the  present 
year,  that  number  will  exceed  seven  millions.  A  majority  of  them, — a 
more  important  fact  than  the  number, — averaged,  during  the  last  year, 
under  forty  years  of  age.  I  must  tell  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  the  result  of 
my  observation,  the  mortifying  fact,  that  but  for  these  large  additions  from 
abroad,  the  American  population  must  die  out.  Sir,  I  have  heard  recently, 
in  the  city  of  Boston,  from  statisticians  there  (what  is  no  doubt  true  of 
every  New  England  State),  that  where  American  families,  fifty,  forty, 
thirty,  and  even  twenty-five  years  ago,  averaged  nine  children,  they  do  not 
average  three  at  the  present  day.  What  eft'ect  is  that  to  have  upon  the 
country?  But  for  this  very  emigrant  population  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
the  American  population,  I  say,  would  die  out.  Sir,  that  is  a  fact  to  be 
considered  and  studied,  perhaps  not  in  a  convention  like  this,  but  in  one 
of  more  importance,  in  some  respects,  and  called  for  another  object  than 
this. 

But  whence  came  these  people,  and  where  do  they  land?  I  will  take 
the  year  1867,  to  illustrate.  125,000  of  them  came  from  Great  Britain ;  12.5,- 
000,  nearly  (only  250  less),  came  from  Germany;  a  few  thousands  from 
France  and  from  the  north  of  Europe.  Where  did  they  land?  Some  3,750 
landed  in  this  good  city  of  Portland.  I  have  no  doubt  they  contributed 
very  much  toward  building  it  up  from  that  vast  ruin  which  might  well 
seem  to  us,  who  do  not  live  here,  would  work  your  certain  destruction, 
rather  than,  as  seems  apparent  now,  your  greater  prosperity  in  time  to 
come.  (Loud  applause.)  10,000  landed  in  the  city  of  Boston;  9,000  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore;  and  251,0')0  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Now,  as  a  New 
Yorker,  if  I  were  disposed  to  be  jealous  at  all  in  regard  to  the  success  of 
other  sections  of  the  country,  I  should  always  be  pointing  to  such  statis- 
tics as  these.  But  I  say  to  you,  as  I  have  said  before,  there  is  room,  and 
opportunity,  and  prosperity  for  us  all. 

And  now,  to  come  to  some  of  the  practical  questions  of  the  day.  Sir,  no 
man  present  will  rejoice  more  than  I  shall  to  see  a  railroad  from  the  city 
of  Portland  to  the  city  of  New  York,  or  a  railroad  from  the  city  of  Port- 
land to  Halifax,  in  Nova  Scotia.  Hasten  the  day  when  all  these  improve- 
ments will  be  completed,  for  you  may  make  railroads  and  canals  until  the 
youngest  child  in  this  city  becomes  gray,  and  the  country  will  grow  faster 
than  your  railroads  and  your  canals.  (Applause.)  The  complaint  of  thou- 
sands of  merchants  in  New  York  now  is  (and  the  same  is  true,  in  a  meas- 
ure, of  the  merchants  of  Philadelphia),  that  they  cannot  get  their  goods 
transported  with  the  speed  they  wish ;  and  that  becomes  a  very  important 
practical  question,  as  merchants  very  well  know,  in  these  times  of  short 
credits.    The  custom  in  old  times  was  to  give  credits  of  four,  six,  and  some- 


59 

times  of  eight  months;  but  now,  every  business  transaction  is  a  matter  of 
thirty  days,  and  the  purchaser  expects  to  realize  something,  in  the  thirty 
days,  upon  what  he  has  bought  in  the  city  of  Portland,  New  York,  or  else- 
where. Speed,  therefore,  is  of  the  highest  importance.  And  let  me  say 
again,  in  my  judgment,  railroads  are  more  important  to  the  develop- 
ment of  a  country,  in  an  age  like  this,  than  any  other  improvements.  If 
you  will  look  to  Belgium  and  Holland,  you  will  see  that  they  are  appar- 
ently better  suited  to  canals  than  to  railroads.  They  have  had  canals  there 
from  generation  to  generation ;  all  the  transit  pf  goods  has  been  by  this 
means,  from  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Antwerp,  and  elsewhere;  and  yet, 
sir,  since  Antwerp  entered  upon  the  building  of  railroads,  some  twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago,  a  greater  degree  of  prosperity  has  attended  Holland  than 
at  any  time  previously.  Her  railroads  have  been  immensely  prosperous; 
they  have  paid  a  larger  income  there  than  here;  they  have  paid  more 
interest  upon  the  capital  invested  there  than  here,  with  those  canals  lying 
right  side  by  side  of  the  rails. 

I  say  that  commerce— to  recur  again  to  that  subject— embraces  every- 
thing that  contributes  to  the  advantage  of  man,  whether  it  be  farms,  plan- 
tations, ships;  whether  it  be  growing  corn  or  cotton:  and,  therefore,  in 
regard  to  all  these  enterprises  which  have  brought  you  here,  whether  it  be 
a  ship  canal  round  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  or  the  improvement  of  the  Lake 
Champlain  Canal,  or  the  building  of  a  railroad  from  Portland  to  the  lakes, 
or  a  railroad  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Puget  Sound,  or  filling  in  that  link 
which  will  make  a  railroad  from  Halifax  to  far-off  San  Francisco,— in  re- 
gard to  all  these  enterprises  I  say,  Go  on  and  prosper!  Wise  men  will 
help  you,  far-seeing,  sagacious  men  will  contribute  freety  of  their  time 
and  money.    Thus,  in  the  name  of  commerce,— 

"Bid  harbors  open,  public  ways  extend; 
Bid  temples,  worthy  of  the  gods,  ascend ; 
Bid  the  broad  arch  the  rolling  flood  contain, 
The  mole,  extended,  break  the  roaring  main ; 
Back  to  her  bounds  the  subject  sea  command, 
And -roll  obedient  rivers  through  the  land." 

(Prolonged  and  loud  applause.) 

Sir,  my  eyes  almost  contemplated  the  other  day, — certainly  it  would  re- 
quire no  great  stretch  of  the  imagination,  and  you  can  see  it  as  I  can, — 
eleven  thousand  Chinese  laborers  working  upon  the  Central  Pacific  Rail- 
road ;  and  you  may  see  a  greater  number  of  Irishmen  from  the  old  world 
working  upon  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad ;  and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  you  will  see  these  peasantry  of  China, 
and  these  neighboring  people  of  Ireland,  celebrating  together  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  on  the  tops  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  (Ap- 
plause.) It  has  cost  millions  of  money,  but  it  has  been  money  well  laid 
out.  It  will  enrich  a  thousand  men  where  it  will  make  one  man  poor;  it 
will  contribute  largely  to  the  wealth  and  the  resources  of  the  Government, 


60 

and  to  its  material  prosperity,  by  enabling  it  to  obtain  taxes  from  lands 
and  other  property  which  would  otherwise  have  been  undeveloped  and 
unproductive. 

Sir,  I  have  detained  you  too  long,  and  let  me  merely  say,  in  conclusion, 
that  all  this  country  wants  is  men  (I  mean  men  in  public  life)  fitted  for 
their  respective  places.  I  do  not  mean  Democratic  men  or  Republican 
men ;  I  do  not  mean  partisans.  Sir,  statesmanship  is  higher  than  parti- 
sanship (applause),  country  is  more  than  party,  and  I  feel,  therefore,  like 
saying,— 

"  God  give  us  men !  A  time  like  this  demands 
Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith,  and  steady  hands; 
Men  whom  the  lusts  of  office  cannot  buy, 
Men  whom  tlie  spoils  of  office  cannot  sell, 
Men  of  opinion  and  a  will, 
Men  of  honor,  men  who  will  not  lie, 
Men  who  dare  stand  above  the  demagogue, 
And  damn  his  treacherous  flatterings  without  winking; 
Tall  men,  sun-browned,  who  live  above  the  fog. 
In  public  duty  and  in  rpivato  thinking." 

Reports  of  Committees. 

Mr,  Pringle,  of  Michigan,  from  the  Committee  on 
International  Commercial  Relations,  submitted  the 
following  i;eport : 

International  Commercial  Convention, 

Portland,  August  4,  1868. 

The  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject 
of  the  reciprocal  commercial  relations  which  ought  to 
exist  between  the  United  States,  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  and  the  other  Provinces,  respectfully  report, 
that  the  time  allotted  does  not  permit  a  full  considera- 
tion of  the  subject.  A  few  hours  will  not  suffice  to 
collect  the  necessary  statistics  or  to  examine  every 
bearing  of  the  different  policies  which  have  been  tried 
by  the  two  countries.  General  considerations  can 
only  be  thought  of,  and  then  cannot  be  discussed  at 
length. 


61 

The  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  including  the  great 
lakes,  lies  in  the  general  direction  which  the  commerce 
not  only  of  this  entire  valley  and  of  the  maritime 
provinces,  but  of  the  valley  of  the  upper  Mississippi 
naturally  takes.  The  people  who  inhabit  all  this 
region  for  the  most  part  speak  the  same  language, 
their  institutions  are  mostly  similar,  the  natural  pro- 
ductions, whether  of  the  field  or  of  the  forest,  except 
as  affected  by  climate,  are  alike,  and  the  boundary  is 
an  invisible  line  which  must  be  often  crossed  by  the 
track  of  commerce.  The  advantage  of  reciprocal 
intercourse  is  obvious  for  the  reason  that  the  area  for 
commercial  enterprise  and  the  markets  for  manufac- 
tured goods  and  agricultural  productions  are  enlarged. 
The  political  relations  are  different,  but  the  prevalent 
system  of  law  and  the  general  character  of  legislation 
is  the  same.  The  financial  burden  of  the  two  countries 
in  proportion  to  their  resources  are  probably  not  very 
different.  Neither  power  has  any  reason  to  be  jealous 
of  the  other,  and  it  would  seem  that  unrestricted 
commercial  intercourse  would  conduce  to  the  general 
benefit.  Labor,  whether  skilled  or  unskilled,  receives 
about  equivalent  rewards,  and  whatever  difference 
there  may  be  in  this  respect  is  likely  to  be  rapidly 
adjusted  by  reason  of  the  easy  transit  of  those  who 
perform  the  labor  from  one  country  to  the  other.  Ten 
years  of  reciprocity  have  been  tried, — from  1856  to 
1865, — and  the  sum  of  imports  and  exports  was  much 
more  than  doubled.  The  treaty  was  abolished,  and 
the  commercial  intercourse  is  shrinking   to  its  old 


62 

proportions.     Why  not,  then,  renew  the  rule  of  recip- 
rocity ?     (Loud  applause.) 

Some  of  the  objections  urged  may  be  briefly  con- 
sidered. That  growing  out  of  the  depreciated  currency 
of  the  United  States  is  believed  to  be  but  temporary. 
The  hope  is  universal  in  the  States  that  this  lingering 
result  of  a  protracted  war  will  speedily  disappear,  and 
then  our  commerce  will  revive,  industry  will  be 
organized,  and  all  disturbing  questions  will  be  ami- 
cably settled.  A  more  real  difficulty  might  perhaps 
arise  in  adjusting  excise  and  impost  duties  so  as  sub- 
stantially to  correspond  in  the  two  countries.  This 
would  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  feeling  which 
would  arise  on  one  side  or  the  other  if  manufacturers 
were  attracted  to  cross  the  boundary  line  by  the 
cheaper  cost  of  living  or  of  new  materials,  in  order, 
by  returning  the  goods,  the  better  to  compete  in  the 
markets  of  their  own  country.  The  great  reduction 
of  American  taxation,  by  which  excises  are  hereafter 
to  be  levied  almost  entirely  upon  spirituous  liquors, 
tobacco,  and  a  few  other  articles  not  of  indispensable 
necessity,  and  the  probability  that  imposts  upon  many 
imported  articles  can  be  reduced  twenty  to  thirty  per 
cent,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  there  need  be  no  per- 
manent material  difference  if  the  two  governments  will 
in  good  faith  attempt  to  settle  the  details  upon  the 
basis  of  equality. 

The  objection  coming  from  agricultural  districts 
that  the  competition  of  grain-growers  will  be  ruinous 
to  American  farmers  does  not  seem  to  be  well  founded. 


63 

for  the  reason  that  the  prices  of  wheat  and  other  grain 
in  European  markets,  to  which  both  sides  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  have  equal  access,  govern  the  prices  on  this 
continent.  This  objection,  as  apphed  to  the  raising  of 
cattle,  is  even  more  untenable  if  made  in  the  United 
States,  for  the  reason  that  the  difference  in  climate  is 
in  favor  of  the  American  produce.  The  objection, 
coming  from  producers  of  lumber  in  the  States,  is  one 
in  which  the  great  body  of  the  American  people  will 
not  sympathize.  The  American  supply  is  not  so  large 
as  to  make  it  a  leading  interest,  or  to  be  entitled  to 
ask  of  the  Government  a  policy  which  shall  have  the 
effect  of  diminishing  it  more  rapidly  than  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand  would  naturally  do. 

The  objection  coming,  or  supposed  to  come,  from 
Canada,  growing  out  of  the  mistaken  supposition  that 
the  treaty  was  abolished  upon  the  idea  that  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  the  Provinces  would  thereby  be 
compelled  to  favor  annexation,  requires  the  explicit 
declaration  that  there  is  no  party  or  set  of  men  in  the 
United  States  who  demand  or  would  consent  to  annex 
the  Canadas  against  the  will  of  the  people  of  that 
Dominion.  Political  questions  are  not  to  be  regarded 
in  this  discussion.  America  has  not  and  will  not 
invest  money  for  political  or  military  reasons  in  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  will  probably  continue 
to  laugh  at  those  who  do ;  but  this  is  no  reason  why 
our  intercourse,  found  to  be  mutually  beneficial,  should 
not  be  again  renewed.  The  reason  for  giving  the 
notice  to  abrogate  the  treaty  is   believed  to  have 


64 

grown  out  of  the  late  civil  war,  the  imposition  of  very 
heavy  duties  and  excises  having  become,  as  was 
believed,  a  necessity,  and  these  having  produced  some 
inequalities  which  need  no  longer  exist.  An  incidental 
benefit  to  both  countries  of  renewing  the  treaty  will 
be  the  removal  of  that  speck  of  war  which  is  supposed 
to  be  contained  in  the  question  of  the  fisheries.  The 
Committee  have,  therefore,  agreed  upon  and  recom- 
mend the  adoption  of  the  accompanying  resolution. 

EUGENE  PRINGLE,  WM.  J.  PALMER, 

WILLIAM  DEERING,  FREDK.   SMYTH, 

WILLIAM  H.  CRAIG,  AMASA  WALKER. 
JOS.  H.  CONVERSE, 

Resolved,  That  the  early  attention  of  Uonsrress  to  the  important  measures 
to  secure  closer  commercial  relations  with  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  on 
the  enlarged  basis  of  a  free  continental  trade,  is  deman<led  b3'  tlie  enlight- 
ened sentiment  and  best  interests  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Provinces.  That  no  time  should  be  lost  in  initiating  the  necessary 
measures  to  secure  this  object,  and  that  this  Convention  expresses  a 
confident  hope  that  Congress  will,  as  early  as  practicable,  appoint  a  special 
Commission  to  negotiate  with  the  provincial  autliorities  for  a  commercial 
alliance  or  Zolverein. 

On  motion  of  Senator  Corbett,  of  Oregon,  the 
report  was  adopted. 

The  President  read  a  note  from  Capt.  John  B.  Coyle, 
agent  of  the  Portland  and  Boston  Steamship  Co.,  in- 
viting the  members  of  the  Convention  to  an  excursion 
down  the  harbor  this  afternoon,  in  one  of  the  boats  of 
the  Company. 

On  motion,  the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the 
thanks  of  the  Convention  ordered  to  be  returned  to 
Capt.  Coyle  for  the  courtesy. 

Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett,  of  Oregon,  chairman  of  the 


65 

Committee  on  Railroads  across  the  continent,  submit- 
ted a  verbal  report  with  the  following  resolutions, 
briefly  commenting  upon  them  as  read : 

Resolved,  That  the  Convention  is  profoundly  impressed  with  the  impor- 
tance of  the  changes  which  are  about  to  take  place  in  the  course  of 
the  commerce  of  the  world  by  the  completion  of  unbroken  railway  com- 
munication across  the  continent  of  North  America,  and  by  the  large  diver- 
sion of  the  traffic  of  the  East  from  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Eed  Sea  routes 
through  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  interest  with  which  the  great  nations  of  China  and 
Japan  are  regarding  the  establishment  of  American  steamship  lines  on 
the  Pacific  ocean,  and  the  construction  of  trans-continental  American  rail- 
roads, and  the  earnest  desire  which  they  evince  to  cultivate  more  intimate 
commercial  relations  with  the  people  of  this  country,  make  it  incumbent 
upon  us  to  sustain  and  to  prosecute  with  the  utmost  vigor,  these  national 
and  international  enterprises,  in  order  that  we  may  be  promptly  prepared 
to  avail  ourselves  of  the  advantages  of  our  geographical  position  and  of 
the  friendly  disposition  of  the  Eastern  nations  for  the  extension  of  our  for- 
eign commerce. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Convention,  two  continental  rail- 
ways in  addition  to  that  now  under  construction  by  the  Omaha  route,  one 
upon  the  line  of  parallel  to  the  north,  and  the  other  upon  a  line  of  parallel 
to  the  south  of  that  route,  should  be  built  with  the  least  possible  delay,  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  trade  of  Asia  already  referred  to,  and  to 
open  to  settlement  and  to  cultivation  the  interior  territories  of  the  country, 
and  to  hasten  the  development  of  their  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth; 
and,  therefore,  the  Convention  respectfully  and  earnestly  urges  upon  Con- 
gress the  patriotic  duty  of  granting  immediate  and  adequate  aid,  to  perfect 
our  American  system  by  the  building  of  these  additional  railways. 

Resolved,  That  the  projected  line  from  the  head  waters  of  Lake  Superior 
to  Puget  Sound,  which  will  render  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  com- 
merce of  the  world  our  great  inland  seas,  which  will  give  communication 
between  Asia  and  Europe  by  the  shortest  distances  on  both  the  Pacific 
and  the  Atlantic  oceans,  and  by  the  shortest  distance  through  the  United 
States,  gives  promise  of  great  advantage  to  the  entire  country,  as  well  as 
to  the  States  and  Territories  through  which  it  is  to  pass. 

Resolved,  That  the  projected  line  of  railway  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which 
will  traverse  the  country  on  or  adjacent  to  the  thirty-fifth  parallel  of  lati- 
tude, in  view  of  the  climate  and  of  the  fertility  and  mineral  wealth  of  the 
country  through  which  it  will  pass,  and  in  view  of  the  commercial  neces- 
sities of  the  southern  portion  of  the  United  States,  is  of  no  less  vital  im- 
portance than  that  which  is  to  unite  the  north-east  with  the  north-west, 

5 


66 

aflfording,  as  it  will,  more  direct  communication  to  the  cities  of  St.  Louis, 
Memphis,  Vicksburg,  New  Orleans,  and  Galveston,  with  the  Pacific  coast. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  we  use  the  shortest 
practicable  routes  between  the  various  cities  of  our  country,  between  the 
eastern  and  western  sections,  and  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans. 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  recommends  the  completion  of  a  line  of 
railroad  from  Portland  to  the  West,  which  will  connect  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Pacific  by  the  shortest  and  most  practicable  route,  recognizing  at  the 
same  time  the  importance  of  such  proposed  and  existing  routes,  as  connect 
tide-water  with  the  lakes,  or  aftbrd  valuable  additions  to  the  direct  lines 
of  transit  between  the  East  and  the  West. 

Hon.  John  Neal  moved  the  adoption  of  the  resolu- 
tions. 

Hon.  Amasa  Walker,  of  North  Brookfield,  Mass., 
seconded  the  motion,  and  said, — 

This  report,  Mr,  Cbairman,,propo8es  a  magnificent  scheme— the  construc- 
tion of  two  more  railroads  across  the  continent  of  North  America.  Is  not 
that  an  astonishing  proposition?  and  to  many  minds,  must  it  not  almost 
seem  perfectly  absurd?  And  yet,  what  proposition  of  any  importance  re- 
lating to  railroads  has  not  been  received  in  precisely  the  same  spirit?  The 
proposition  to  build  a  railroad  from  Boston  to  Albany  was  thought  a  very 
visionary  idea— something  that  reasonable,  reflecting  men  would  not  en- 
courage for  a  moment  It  was  only  a  few  zealous  and  earnest  young  men 
who  dared  to  contemplate  such  an  undertaking  as  a  railroad  from  Boston 
to  Albany.  And  yet  it  was  accomplished  at  last,  and  with  what  results? 
The  business  of  the  road  has  been  tenfold  greater  than  anybody  had  even 
anticipated,  and  in  making  their  arrangements  for  stations,  procuring  land, 
&c.,  they  did  not  provide  for  more  than  one-tenth  the  accommodations 
they  ought  to  have  secured.  Now,  sir,  that  has  been  the  experience  in 
every  section  of  the  country  from  that  time  to  this;  and  therefore  it  is  that 
we  are  not  to  be  startled  with  this  idea  of  two  new  railroads  across  the 
continent.  The  country  develops  with  such  tremendous  activity. that,  as 
was  said  by  the  gentleman  who  preceded  me,  we  cannot  keep  up  with  the 
increase  of  jiopulation  by  all  the  railroads  that  we  can  make.  So  that 
there  is  nothing  visionary,  nothing  chimerical  in  this  idea  of  sending  an- 
other railroad  across  the  continent  north,  and  another  railroad  south  of 
the  one  now  in  process  of  construction,  because  we  open  such  vast  territo- 
ries and  develop  such  vast  resources  by  so  doing. 

I  will  not,  sir,  detain  the  Convention  by  any  extended  remarks.  My  only 
object  is  to  remove  the  impression,  if  it  exists  in  the  mind  of  any  gentle- 
man present,  that  this  is  a  mere  chimera,  a  new  visionary  project,  that  a 
few  minds  entertain,  who  have  not  the  discretion  or  the  judgment  to  know 
what  is  for  the  good  and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 


67 

Sir,  the  x^eople  of  this  country  wish  for  four  things;  specially,  they  need 
four  thinjTjs  as  the  conditions  of  their  highest  prosperity  and  most  rapid 
development.  In  tlie  first  place,  they  need  freedom  of  labor,  freedom  of 
industry.  That  we  have  secured;  that  is  settled.  Everyman  now  has  an 
interest  in  tlie  results  of  his  labor,  and  that  is  an  essential  condition  of  the 
greatest  production.  The  next  thing  that  we  need  is  freedom  of  intercourse 
— ^freedom  of  traile ;  and  hence  the  proposition  that  has  just  been  acted  upon 
in  relation  to  reciprocity.  "Why,  that  is  the  grandest  and  noblest  idea  that 
can  be  presented  to  the  American  people,  in  relation  to  their  progress,  in 
relation  to  the  development  of  their  industry,  and  of  the  resources  of  the 
country.  I  was  exceedingly  vexed,  I  will  say,  when  the  proposition  was 
made  to  aV)olish  the  reciprocity  treaty  between  us  and  the  British  Prov- 
inces on  the  north;  for  I  foresaw  at  once,  what  we  now  realize,  that  it 
would  be  a  very  essential  injury  to  both  countries.  It  has  proved  so. 
"While  our  trade  and  our  profits  were  increasing  during  recix^rocity,  they  at 
once  fell  off  U])on  the  refusal  of  this  country  to  renew  the  treaty.  That  is 
a  great  fundamental  principle,  and  it  applies,  allow  me  to  say,  for  one 
country  as  well  as  another.  This  glorious  idea  of  the  universal  freedom  of 
trade  applies  to  all  countries  everywhere. 

I  am  aware,  sir,  that  by  circumstances  and  by  local  interests,  we  have 
been  educat^^d  to  very  false  ideas  on  that  subject;  but  we  have  got  to 
abandon  all  those  ideas;  we  have  got  to  realize  that  we  as  a  nation  can 
compete  with  all  the  world,  if  we  can  only  have  perfect  freedom  of  indus- 
try and  trade.  That  is  what  we  demand,  and  having  that,  we  are  sure  of 
being  able  to  compete  successfully  with  "all  the  world  and  the  rest  of 
mankind."    (Api)lause.) 

I  could  not  allow  this  occasion  to  pass  away— the  meeting  of  our  Inter- 
national Commercial  Convention  —  without  saying  this  much;  without 
bearing  my  testimony  to  the  truth  of  this  great  principle,  namely,  that  we 
want  universal  freedom  of  trade,  and  that  for  the  prosperity  and  welfare 
of  our  whole  country,  of  every  part  of  our  country,  of  every  great  interest 
in  our  country,  it  is  essential  that  we  have  this  freedom  of  trade. 

Then,  again,  we  want  what  we  have  now  met  here  to  promote,  and  that 
is,  the  cheapest  possible  transportation.  That  is  the  third  thing.  After  the 
farmer  or  the  manufacturer  or  the  fisherman  has  got  his  product  ready 
for  the  market,  we  want  the  greatest  possible  facilities  for  transporting 
that  product  to  the  consumer.  "We  want,  therefore,  railroads  everywhere, 
and  we  want  them  conducted  on  such  economical  principles  that  the  rates 
for  the  transportation  of  freight  and  passengers  may  be  reduced  to  the 
lowest  possible  point. 

Lastly,  we  need  a  correct  standard  of  value.  We  need  a  currency  on  a 
par  with  the  currency  of  the  rest  of  the  commercial  world.  (Applause.) 
"We  cannot  have  prosperity  unless  we  do  have  a  correct  standard  of  value. 
It  is  all  idle,  it  is  all  absurd  to  suppose  that  we  can  secure  our  own  inter- 
ests and  welfare,  in  competition  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  unless  we  have 


68 

the  same  standard  of  value  that  the  rest  of  the  world  has.  The  idea  that 
we  can  have  a  currency  which  to-day  is  worth  only  sixty-nine  cents  on  the 
dollar  of  the  currency  of  the  world,  and  yet  he  prosperous,  entirely  suc- 
cessful, is  preposterous.  There  is  no  such  thing;  and  I  take  leave  here  to 
say,  that  that  is  the  greatest  difficulty  we  have  to-day,  the  greatest  cause 
of  our  suffering  and  loss,  of  the  falling  off  of  our  industry,  and  the  depres- 
sion of  trade.  It  must  he  so,  and  it  will  grow  worse  and  worse.  Why,  sir, 
what  has  stopped  your  ship-building  in  Maine?  Your  false  currency.  Eight 
over  the  line,  our  good  friends  have  a  sound  currency,  and  they  can  build 
a  vessel  and  send  it  here  and  sell  it,  in  the  face  and  eyes  of  your  ship-build- 
ers, for  a  third  less  than  they  can  build  it.  Why?  Because  everything 
the  ship-builder  here  uses  is  measured  by  this  false  currency,  which  is 
worth  only  sixty-nine  cents  on  the  dollat,  and  everything  there  is  meas- 
ured by  a  currency  that  is  worth  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar.  That 
makes  a  mighty  difference.  There  is  no  hope  of  restoring  the  business  of 
ship-building  at  all  except  as  you  restore  the  currency.  We  are  sending 
to-day  to  Canada  for  lumber  which  might  be  purchased  in  Maine.  ■\\Tiy? 
Because  lumber  i)urchascd  in  Maine  is  purchased  with  a  fictitious  curren- 
cy, and  costs  forty  per  cent  more  than  it  otherwise  would;  and  therefore 
our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  line  can  sell  their  lumber  cheaper  than 
we  can  get  it  out  of  our  own  forests.  That  is  the  fact,  and  that  is  true  of 
every  branch  of  industry  in  the  country. 

Look  for  a  moment  at  our  cotton  manufactures.  The  time  has  been  when 
we  have  sent  cotton  manufactures  to  the  amount  of  nine  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  the  East, — to  Bombay  and  Calcutta.  How  is  it  to-day?  Look  at 
your  returns  and  see  how  much  you  send.  You  send  next  to  nothing,  and 
you  never  can  send  any  there,  or  anywhere  else,  to  advantage,  until  you 
have  a  currency  on  a  par  with  theirs.    (Applause.) 

I  fear  the  attention  of  the  people  of  this  country  lias  not  been  directed 
to  that  point  as  it  ought  to  have  been.  We  have  talked  about  free  trade 
and  a  great  many  other  things  here  for  twenty  or  thirty  years;  but  we 
have  never  paid  any  serious  attention  to  the  results  of  a  currency  below 
the  standard  of  value  in  the  commercial  world,  and  here  is  the  great  fact, 
that  we  have  a  currency  to-day  which  is  more  than  thirty  per  cent  below 
that  standard.  The  people  of  this  country  must  turn  their  attention  in 
that  direction.  They  must  not  be  deluded  by  looking  in  a  certain  direc- 
tion for  the  remedy.  They  must  demand  a  return  just  as  soon  as  a  return 
is  practicable,  to  the  true  standard  of  value ;  that  is,  that  a  dollar  shall 
mean  25  8-10  grains  of  gold,  of  standard  value, — for  that  is  what  is  meant 
by  "par;"  that  is,  that  our  currency  should  be  on  a  par  with  gold. 

Sir,  I  could  not  forbear  presenting  this  consideration  to  the  Convention, 
because,  important  as  all  other  things  are  as  steps  towards  the  realization 
of  our  highest  prosperity  and  success,  as  a  business  people,  it  is  above  all 
things  essential  that  we  should  have  our  currency  restored.  We  must  not 
be  deceived  by  any  cry— "  Oh,  we  are  coming  to  it."     "  Coming  to  it!" 


69 

Coming  to  what?  Coming  to  destruction.  That  is  what  we  are  inevitably- 
coming  to,  financially.  Coming  to  a  specie  standard  by  any  present 
process?  I  deny  it,  entirely.  We  are  going  precisely  in  the  opposite 
direction,  or  else  I  do  not  know  anything  about  it.  "We  are  going  away 
from  it  every  day.  Talk  about  large  crops  of  cotton  and  wheat  restoring 
the  currency !  It  has  no  tendency  that  way.  That  is  undoubtedly  thought 
to  be  very  heretical  by  some  who  hear  me,  but  it  is  just  so.  Then  what 
will  restore  the  currency?  Why,  what  destroyed  the  currency?  It  is 
always  best  to  know  that,  to  start  with.  What  destroyed  the  currency? 
The  act  of  Congress  making  paper  legal  tender,  was  it  not?  Surely,  that  is 
•what  destroyed  the  currency.  A  war  measure,  necessary,  if  you  please,— I 
will  not  debate  that  point,— but  that  is  what  destroyed  the  currency.  What, 
then,  will  restore  it?  Nothing  but  an  act  of  Congress.  Nothing  but  an  act 
of  Congress  which  shall  declare  that  the  currency  shall  be  contracted  so* 
many  millions  a  month,  until  it  is  on  a  par  with  specie.  To  pretend  that 
anything  else  will  ever  produce  this  result  is  to  deceive  the  people.  Those 
who  entertain  this  idea  are  honest,  perhaps;  nevertheless,  it  is  a  mistake, 
and  a  mistake  that  can  only  produce  distress,  that  can  only  postpone  relief. 
We  must  look  to  no  such  thing,— to  nothing  except  the  direct  and  positive 
action  of  Congress.  When  will  Congress  act  upon  that  subject?  When 
will  they  take  measures  to  bring  about  this  result  ?  Do  you  know  when 
they  will  do  it?  I  will  tell  you  precisely  when  they  will  do  it.  They  will 
do  it  when  you  demand  it,  and  they  will  never  do  it  before,— never.  I 
assure  you  of  that.  Speaking  with  a  very  intelligent  member  of  Congress 
some  little  time  ago,  he  said, "  We  ought  to  contract  our  currency  ten 
millions  a  month  ;  we  ought  to  do  this  thing  and  that."  I  said, 
"Yes,"  and  "I  a^ree  with  you  in  that;"  and  when  he  got  through, 
I  said,  "Go  on  the  floor  of  Congress  and  say  that;  go  before  your 
constituents  and  tell  them  that  is  what  the  country  needs."  Said  he, 
"Walker,  I  should  be  defeated  by  five  thousand  majority."  (Laugh- 
ter.) There  you  have  it.  The  idea  that  your  Congress  is  going  to  do 
anything  you  do  not  ask  for  is  quite  absurd.  The  idea  that  they  know 
anything  more  than  you  do  about  these  things  is  equally  absurd.  You, 
business  men,  must  be  the  judges;  you  must  demand  what  you  want.  You 
have  only  to  let  your  representatives  in  Congress  know  what  you  want, 
and  you  will  have  it;  otherwise,  we  shall  float  on  and  on  in  this  miserable 
sea. 

I  ask  you,  then,  in  conclusion,  to  use  your  utmost  exertions  to  bring 
about  a  gradual  but  certain  reduction  of  our  expanded  currency.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Mr.  John  Cain,  of  Rutland,  Vt.,  said : 

I  do  not  rise,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  make  a  speech,  but  I  do  rise  to  make  a 
few  remarks.  I  could  sit  here  a  week  and  feel  grateful  to  hear  speeches 
about  the  Celestial  Empire,  and  stay  up  in  the  clouds,  where  we  have  been 


70 

yesterday  and  to-day,  but  I  think  we  had  better  come  down  to  practical 
operations.  (Applause.)  We  have  heard  from  gentlemen  from  Oregon, 
from  Minnesota,  from  New  York,  from  Massachusetts.  I  have  been  very 
much  entertained  and  glad  to  hear  them.  I  mean  no  disrespect  to  any 
gentleman  in  what  I  have  to  say,  but  I  do  say  that  it  is  not  the  entertain- 
ment to  which  we  were  invited.  There  are  delegates  here  from  a  distance 
—from  Oregon,  as  I  have  said,  probably  from  Halifax  and  Montreal,  and 
remote  points;  but  I  assure  you  that  the  place  where  a  Convention  is  held 
generally  contributes  a  large  number.  "We  have  heard  nothing  from 
Portland.  We  have  been  invited  here  by  the  people  of  Portland  to  an 
International  Convention.  They  have  had  two  Railroad  Conventions 
within  a  few  months,  which  I  have  attended, — one  at  Center  Harbor, 
janother  at  Rutland.  Although  this  is  called  an  International  Convention, 
still  it  is  to  promote  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  to  the  Pacific. 
That  was  the  intention.  I  am  glad  that  gentlemen  have  diverged  and 
taken  an  international  view,  so  far  as  they  have  done;  but  what  1  protest 
against  is  the  making  of  long  speeches.— and  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  fall  into  that  fault  myself.  New  Hampshire  has  not  spoken  here; 
Vermont  has  not  said  a  word.  We  are  about  one  hundred  miles  distant 
from  Portland  at  Rutland,  in  western  Vermont,  across  the  Green  Moun- 
tains. We  have  come  some  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  to  get  here  by 
railroad,  by  the  way  of  Boston.  We,  on  the  western  side  of  the  mountains, 
are  represented  by  some  twenty  delegates  from  Rutland  and  neighboring 
towns;  the  other  side  is  represented  by  some  thirty  delegates  from  Wood- 
stock and  neighboring  towns;  and  New  Hampshire,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bristol,  and  along  there,  is  represented  by  fully  that  number.  Not  one  of 
these  gentlemen  has  said  a  word;  and  what  I  rose  for  was  to  say,  that  I 
hope,  as  we  have  accepted  the  invitation  for  an  excursion  down  the  bay, 
that  we  shall  have  an  evening  session.  Our  sessions  have  been  too  short. 
You  must  know  that  many  of  the  delegates  from  the  interior  of  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont  cannot  stay  here  for  a  great  length  of  time.  A 
large  number  of  our  delegation  would  have  gone  this  morning,  had  it  not 
been  that  they  wished  to  see  this  matter  out.  I  do  not  know  how  many  days 
you  intend  to  be  in  session ;  I  do  not  know  what  the  programme  of  this  Con- 
vention is,  but  what  I  have  risen  for  is  to  suggest  that  the  business  of  the 
Convention  be  acted  upon  first,  and  that  we  have  the  speeches  afterwards. 
For  fear  that  I  may  fall  into  the  same  fault  that  I  have  been  complaining 
about,  I  must  conclude.  You  know  what  I  mean.  I  hope  that  when  the 
Convention  is  in  session,  no  man  will  be  allowed  to  speak  more  than  ten 
minutes. 

Hon.  John  B.  Brown,  of  Portland,  said : 

I  move  that  when  the  Convention  adjourns,  it  be  to  meet  at  half-past 
seven  o'clock  this  evening.  In  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Portland,  I  will  say 
that  we  are  very  glad  that  the  Convention  has  accepted  the  invitation  to 


71 


take  a  trip  down  the  harbor.  We  are  very  desirous  to  hear  our  distin- 
guished friends  from  the  West  and  the  East,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  a 
large  audience  will  be  here  this  evening.  I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  Con- 
vention will  hold  an  evening  session. 


Hon.  R.  D.  Rice,  of  Augusta,  said : 


I  beg  leave  to  remark,  that  I  have  been  very  much  interested  in  the 
discussion  thus  far,  and  desire,  particularly,  to  suggest  to  my  friend  from 
Vermont  that  there  has  not  been  very  much  time  expended,  and  no  time 
wasted,  in  speeches.  We  have  hardly  yet  received  the  reports  of  our  com- 
mittees, and  those  reports,  it  seems  to  me,  involve  matter  of  very  great 
interest,  not  only  to  this  Convention,  but  to  the  whole  people  of  this 
continent.  I  trust,  therefore,  that  we  shall  take  time  enough  to  fully  and 
maturely  consider  these  important  questions,  and  that  gentlemen,  not  only 
from  the  far  West,  from  Massachusetts,  and  from  New  York,  but  from  Ver- 
mont and  New  Hampshire,  from  Portland  and  Canada,  from  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  Brunswick,  and,  if  there  is  any  person  present  from  across  the 
waters,  from  England  also,  will  have  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  before 
this  Convention  finally  adjourns. 

Now  that  I  am  up,  I  will  state  that  I  see  a  gentleman  in  the  hall  of  much 
distinction,  who  has  given  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  subject  before  us. 
I  refer  to  the  Hon,  Henry  T.  Blow,  of  Missouri.  I  take  the  liberty  to  call 
upon  him  for  some  remarks  upon  the  subject-matter  now  before  the 
Convention. 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  HENRY  T.  BLOW. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention, — I  congratulate  you  most 
heartily  upon  the  reports  that  have  been  presented  to  you  this  morning. 
Your  Convention  was  called  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  country,  and  I  see 
from  the  nature  of  these  reports  that  you  have  had  regard  to  the  whole 
country. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  speak  upon  the  particular  matter  before  us,  and 
to  which  my  attention  has  been  directed,  I  ask  leave  to  protest  against  the 
discussion  of  questions,  of  the  greatest  importance  to  this  country,  and 
upon  which  men  differ,  before  a  Convention  not  called  for  the  discussion 
of  those  subjects.  (Applause.)  We  of  the  West  have  our  opinions  upon 
those  questions,  and,  sir,  we  will  go  before  the  people  of  this  country  and 
discuss  them.  Here,  we  come  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  construction 
of  trans-continental  railroads;  to  see  if  we  cannot  bring  the  far-off  nations 
of  the  world  together  across  this  magnificent  expanse  of  territory  which 
we  own  and  control.  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  we  of  the  West  do  not 
agree,  on  some  subjects,  with  the  gentlemen  who  have  addressed  you.  We 
want  a  currency  as  solid  and  enduring  as  the  great  principles  of  Republi- 
canism.   We  want,  like  my  friend  from  Massachusetts,  a  currency  that 


72 

will  attract  the  laborer  from  foreign  countries,  and  upon  which  the  credit 
of  a  great  nation  can  securely  rest  in  the  eyes  of  the  balance  of  the  world. 
Bui  while  we  want  that,  we  diflfer  very  ranch  from  the  gentleman  in  regard 
to  the  manner  in  which  we  should  get  it.  A  National  Commercial  Con- 
vention met  not  long  ago  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  their  idea  was 
entirely  different  from  that  of  the  gentleman.  The  first  thing  that  they 
thought  necessary  to  resumption  was,  that  contracts  for  payment  in  gold 
should  be  recognized  as  binding  by  act  of  Congress.  (Applause.)  That, 
they  believed,  yould  pave  the  way  to  that  acknowledgment  upon  which 
alone  this  great  revolution  or  reaction  is  to  take  place. 

I  differ  from  the  gentleman  very  much  in  regard  to  another  matter.  I 
assert  that  the  material  interests  of  this  country,  the  raising  of  grand  crops 
of  wheat  and  corn,  the  restoration  of  the  cotton  crop,  the  reduction  of  the 
imports  and  the  increase  of  exports,  and  the  production  of  gold,  is  the  true 
way  to  resumption.  (Applause.)  Acts  of  Congress  will  not  convert  the 
currency  to  gold.  It  is  labor,  accommodated  to  the  wants  of  the  people, — 
it  is  the  labor  of  men  themselves,  honest  and  fair,  and  thoroughly  identified 
with  the  loyal,  union,  progressive  spirit  of  the  times,  which  is  to  giv 
vitality  to  the  country  and  credit  to  the  nation.  (Applause.)  Pardon  me 
for  saying  so  much  upon  this  subject. 

In  the  report  that  is  before  us,  we  have  designated  a  road  which  is  now 
on  its  way  to  completion.  Six  or  eight  hundred  miles  from  the  extreme 
confines  of  the  States  of  this  Union,  reaching  towards  California,  is  the 
Central  or  Omaha  route;  an  enterprise  which  alone  would  give  character 
and  dignity  to  any  nation,  if  it  had  nothing  else  to  sustain  it.  Clear  be- 
yond that,  on  the  Pacific  slopes,  another  road  is  to-day  surmounting  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  and  the  space  of  only  900  miles  is  between  them.  That 
space  will  be  annihilated  in  less  than  eighteen  months,  and  the  iron  horse 
will  start  from  Portland,  I  hope,  by  the  direct  route  to  which  my  friend 
alludes,— for  we  go  for  direct  routes  (applause)— and  never  stop  until  it 
stands  by  the  growing  com  at  the  entrance  of  California.  (Renewed  ap- 
jdause.) 

But,  gentlemen,  the  Senator  from  Oregon  made  a  very  good  point  yester- 
day before  our  committee,  when  he  said  that  we  could  not  haul  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  East  and  the  West  over  the  Sierra  Nevada,  except  at  a  high 
cost.  "We  want  competing  routes,  and  justice  to  this  nation,  justice  to  the 
toiling  South,  erring  as  they  have  been,  demands  that  every  portion  of 
the  country  should  be  regarded;  and  here  is  the  place,  in  the  far-off  north- 
east of  our  country,  to  show  the  spirit  of  American  justice,  and  you  have 
done  it.  (Applause.)  "We  therefore  designate  two  other  routes;  one  that 
is  perfectly  magnificent,  for  it  accommodates  two  great  nations— the  north- 
ern portion  of  our  own  and  that  English  nation  which  I  hope  will  struggle 
up  until  it  becomes  self-sustaining  and  independent,  and  can  build  its  own 
roads  across  its  own  domain  to  that  same  far-off  Pacific.  I  heard  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  when  that  bill  was  brought  up  in  Congress,  describe  the  beauti- 


.  '^3 

ful  country  traversed  by  the  Lake  Superior  and  Puget  Sound  road.  We 
are  too  apt,  living  as  we  do  remote  from  these  portions  of  our  country,  to 
lose  sight  of  their  great  beauty  and  fertility.  I  was  reminded  of  both  as 
the  Senator  eloquently  described  to  the  committee,  as  the  gentleman  from 
Minnesota  (Hon.  J.  W.  Taylor)  did  to  the  Convention,  yesterday,  the  mag- 
nificence of  that  country  and  its  enormous  producing  capacity. 

Then,  far  to  the  South,  gentlemen,  you  provide  for  another  road — a  road 
which  has  its  branch  through  Memj^his,  to  Savannah  and  Charleston — a 
direct  route  to  Memphis  already  provided  to  meet  it;  another  branch  to 
Galveston;  another  branch  to  Memphis,Vicksburg,  and  New  Orleans.  This 
is  not  a  purely  southern  route,  for  if  you  will  look  at  the  map,  you  will  see 
it  is  more  central  than  southern,  and  I  believe  it  is  the  shortest  and  most 
direct  route  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  although  it  does  not  termi- 
nate at  either  of  the  cities  on  the  Atlantic  slope.  I  think  the  committee 
make  a  mistake  when  they^say  that  the  Lake  Superior  and  Puget  Sound 
route  is  the  shortest. 

You  have  designated,  gentlemen,  these  two  national  routes,  and  when 
you  go  to  Congress  and  ask  Congress  to  subsidize  them  as  they  have  the 
Omaha  route.  Congress  dare  not,  viewing  the  matter  in  the  light  of  justice, 
refuse  your  request.  (Applause.)  Thus  we  secure  across  the  continent 
and  open  to  the  nations  of  the  world,  three  competing  routes,  each  one 
upon  American  soil,  of  course,  each  one  of  them  affording  these  great 
privileges,  each  of  which  can  be  used  to  such  advantage  in  your  rapid 
communication,  through  Portland  and  Halifax,  with  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

In  reply  to  the  gentleman  who  has  last  addressed  you,  I  beg  leave  to  say 
this  much;  that  there  is  nothing  so  much  desired  by  the  people  who  inhabit 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  there  is  nothing  that  we  so  much  ask  from  the  en- 
terprise of  others,  as  that  this  country  shall  be  brought  closer  and  closer 
together  by  the  most  direct  communication  that  is  attainable  by  the  iron 
rail.  (Applause.)  We  bid  you,  gentlemen,  God-speed  in  the  work.  If  you 
can  make  your  route  an  air-line,  do  so ;  if  you  cannot,  make  it  as  near  an 
approach  to  an  air-line  as  possible.  I  look  to  the  far-off"  West,  and  I  see 
Portland,  in  Oregon ;  I  look  over  the  city  of  Utica,  over  the  city  of  Indian- 
apolis, and  I  see  St.  Louis;  I  look  out  to  the  south-west  line  of  the  State, 
and  beyond  that  I  see  Galveston.  The  route  is  clear  from  Portland  to  Gal- 
veston, and  that  is  one  of  the  connections  that  will  be  made.  (Applause.) 
That  is  something  for  the  people  of  New  England  to  contend  for;  for,  gen- 
tlemen, in  the  course  of  trade  (that  course  of  trade  which  is  alluded  to  in 
this  report)  there  is  no  telling  which  route  the  great  products  of  this  coun- 
try are  to  take  in  a  few  years.  We  want  all  the  communications  with  the 
Atlantic  sea-board  that  we  can  get,  and  you  want  all  the  communications 
you  can  get  with  the  crops  that  are  produced  at  the  West,  and  with  the 
cotton  which  is  raised  in  the  South. 

I  congratulate  you,  gentlemen,  in  conclusion,  that  this  country  is  now 


74  . 

teeming  with  wealth  raised  upon  its  own  bosom.  It  is  a  proud  thing  for 
us  to  be  able  to  say  that  those  men  who  refused,  a  few  years  ago,  to  go  to 
work  at  the  Soutli,  because  they  were  still  inimical  to  the  government,  have 
this  year  turned  in  like  men,  tilled  the  soil,  and  raised  a  crop  of  cotton, 
probably,  of  three  millions  of  bales,  which  will  decrease  their  dissatisfac- 
tion, and  make  them  feel  once  more  that  they  are  American  citizens.  (Ap- 
plause.) That  is  true  reconstruction;  and  the  Commercial  Convention, 
whether  held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
or  in  the  good  city  of  Portland,  that  contributes  to  that  end,  is  a  proud 
Convention,  and  is  truly  national  and  loyal  in  its  spirit  and  purpose.  (Loud 
applause.) 

The  question  was  then  put,  and  the  resolutions 
adopted, 

Hon.  J.  W.  Taylor,  of  Minnesota,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Lake,  Kiver,  and  Canal  Navigation, 
presented,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee,  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,— That  this  Convention  deems  it  the  province  of  wise  and 
prudent  statesmanship  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  shall 
co-operate  with  the  States  and  Provinces  interested  in  such  enlargement 
of  existing  canals  and  channels  and  other  improvements  of  the  route  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  as  will  admit  of  the  passage  of  vessels  of  one  thousand 
tons  burden  from  Lakes  Michigan  and  Superior  to  the  Gulf  of  St  Law- 
rence and  the  harbor  of  New  York. 

Resolved,  That  these  great  rivers  of  the  West,  whose  channels  and  com- 
merce are  not  exclusively  within  the  limits  of  a  State,  have  equal  claims 
upon  the  consideration  of  Congress,  under  the  constitutional  authority,  to 
regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  among  the  States,  as  Ocean, 
Lake,  and  Gulf  coasts  which  are  the  extreme  boundaries  of  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  a  judicious  system  of  expenditures  for  these  national  ob- 
jects should  be  impartially  extended  to  the  Pacific  as  well  as  the  Atlantic 
coast;  to  the  harbors  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  as  well  as  the  northern  lakes, 
and  to  the  great  interior  rivers  of  the  country. 

Mr.  G.  W.  Woodman,  of  Portland,  moved  the  adop- 
tion of  the  resolutions. 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Poor,  the  motion  was 
amended  so  as  to  provide  for  the  acceptance  of  the 
report,  instead  of  its  adoption,  and  in  that  form  passed. 


75 

On  motion  of  Senator  Corbett,  the  resolutions  were 
adopted. 

Hon.  J.  B.  Brown,  of  Portland,  then  renewed  his 
motion,  that  when  the  Convention  adjourned,  it  should 
be  to  meet  at  7  1-2  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

Mr.  Hamilton  A.  Hill,  of  Boston,  moved  to  amend 
the  motion,  as  follows :  That  at  the  close  of  this  ses- 
sion, the  Convention  adjourn  sine  die,  and  that  a  pub- 
lic meeting  be  held  this  evening. 

Considerable  discussion  took  place  on  the  amend- 
ment, and  it  was  finally  lost. 

Mr.  Poor  then  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote 
whereby  the  Convention  adopted  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  International  Commercial  Relations. 

This  motion  called  forth  some  debate,  which  was 
concluded  by  a  motion  to  lay  it  on  the  table,  which 
was  carried. 

Mr.  James  A.  Dupee,  of  Boston,  moved  a  reconsid- 
eration of  the  vote  whereby  the  Convention  accepted 
the  invitation  to  a  sail  down  the  harbor. 

Pending  this  motion,  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks,  of  New 
York,  moved  that  the  Convention  take  a  recess  until 
7  1-2  o'clock  this  evening,  which  motion  prevailed. 


Evening  Session. 

The  Convention  was  called  to  order  at  eight  o'clock 
by  Hon.  Frederick  Bobie,  one  of  the  Secretaries,  who 
stated  that  the  President,  Gov.  Merrill,  was  necessarily 
absent. 


76 

On  motion,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait 
on  the  Hon.  Stephen  Tobin,  Mayor  of  Halifax,  the 
first  Vice-President,  and  invite  him  to  take  the  chair 
for  the  evening. 

Mayor  Tobin  soon  appeared  upon  the  platform,  and 
addressed  the  Convention  as  follows : 

On  assuming  the  duties  of  the  chair,  which  devolve  upon  me  as  first 
Vice-President,— a  position  with  which  I  have  been  honored  by  this  Con- 
vention,—in  the  absence  of  the  Governor  of  Iowa,  who  has  ably  discharged 
those  dutiies  hitherto,  I  beg  to  express  my  regrets  to  the  Convention  that 
circumstances  have  prevented  the  gentlemen  from  the  British  Provinces, 
who  have  attended  this  Convention,  from  taking  a  very  active  part  in  its 
deliberations.  We  felt  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  commit  ourselves  to  any 
position  which  might  imply  an  acceptance  or  indorsement  of  certain  views 
which  were  enunciated  here  yesterday  morning.  But,  gentlemen,  I  hope 
it  will  not  be  inferred  from  this  fact  that  we  take  no  interest  in  the 
proceedings  we  have  witnessed  here,  or  that  we  are  unconscious  of  the 
magnificent  results  which  may  flow  from  them,  for,  I  can  assure  you,  such 
is  not  the  case.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  fully  alive  to  the  value  of  the 
various  measures  which  have  been  brought  before  this  Convention;  and 
feeling,  as  we  do,  that  it  is  composed  of  gentlemen  representing  the  wealth, 
the  intelligence,  the  commercial  enterprise,  the  public  spirit,  the  political 
and  social  influences  and  interests  of  so  many  States  of  this  great  Republic, 
we  feel  that  its  decisions  will  be  attended  with  important  results  to  the 
people  of  British  America. 

The  grand  scheme  of  constructing  an  unbroken  line  of  railroad  for  four 
thousand  miles  across  the  continent,  from  the  Atlantic  city  of  Halifax,  over 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  preside,  to  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  on  the 
Pacific,  is  a  scheme,  the  magnificent  proportions  of  which  are  calculated 
to  dazzle  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  rate  of  railway  progress 
upon  this  continent.  I  am  glad  to  find,  by  the  proceedings  of  this  Conven- 
tion, that  what  many  regard  perhaps  as  a  mere  visionary  scheme,  is  almost 
in  fact  a  practical  reality.  (Applause, )  I  infer,  from  the  statements  made  by 
the  gentleman  who  addressed  us  this  morning  (Hon.  Erastus  Brooks), 
whose  eloquence  enchained  our  attention  for  a  long  time,  and  elicited  our 
admiration  so  justly,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  Irish  laborer 
who  came  from  Ireland,  and  the  Chinese  laborer  who  came  from  China,  for 
the  purpose  of  working  on  that  road,  will  together  celebrate  the  completion 
of  that  great  enterprise.  (Applause.)  I  consider  that  this  is  a  circum- 
stance which  should  arouse  us  all  to  the  importance  of  the  duty  devolving 
upon  those  who  have  charge  of   the  intermediate   distances   between 


77 

Chicago  and  Halifax,  and  I  feel  sure  that  the  discussions  of  this  Con- 
vention, conducted  as  they  have  been  in  the  presence  of  so  many  leading 
minds  of  this  continent,  will  be  fruitful  of  great  good,  and  that  each 
American  State,  and  each  British  Province,  will,  at  an  early  day,  make  up 
its  link  in  the  great  chain,  and  enable  us  to  present  to  the  world  the 
grandest  triumph  of  railway  enterprise  it  has  ever  seen.  (Loud  applause.) 

There  is  another  topic  which  came  before  the  Convention  this  morning, 
and  which  now  more  immediately  attracts  our  attention,  and  that,  gentle- 
men, is  one  big  with  importance,  not  only  to  British  America,  as  some 
people  imagine,  but  to  all  America;  for  I  contend  that  the  commercial 
interests  of  British  America  are  the  commercial  interests  of  the  United 
States  (applause);  that  whatever  affects  our  prosperity  affects  yours.  We 
are  brothers  in  commerce  as  well  as  in  blood.  (Applause.)  I  feel,  also, 
gentlemen,  that  it  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  importance  of  the 
resolution  which  has  been  introduced  here,  and  I  hope  that  that  resolution 
will  be  received  with  pride  and  with  pleasure  by  every  British  subject, 
and  by  every  American  citizen  whose  heart  is  in  the  right  place,  for  it 
breathes  high-minded  commercial  sentiments,  it  breathes  a  noble  spirit  of 
peace  and  good-will  to  all  men,  of  fraternity  to  those  who  have  a  common 
origin  with  yourselves,  whose  language,  whose  manners  are  the  same  as 
yours,  whose  feelings  and  interests  are  identified  with  yours,  and  especially 
in  everything  that  tends  to  the  elevation  of  mankind  and  the  development 
of  civilization  (loud  applause);  a  body  of  people  who  are  your  friends  now 
and  who,  I  trust,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  will  be  your  friends  to  the  end 
of  time.    (Renewed  applause.) 

Gentlemen,  we  have  now  before  us  simply  the  question  of  reciprocity, 
and  it  is  neither  my  province  nor  my  intention  to  enter  into  any  details, 
or  to  suggest  any  terms  upon  which  a  reciprocity  treaty  may  be  based. 
That  matter  will  rest  with  the  agent  delegated  by  Congress.  But  I  hold 
that  the  messenger  appointed  by  Congress  for  that  purpose  will  be  received 
in  the  British  colonies  as  the  harbinger  of  perpetual  peace  and  prosperous 
commercial  intercourse  to  the  end  of  time  (applause),  and  that  he  will  also 
be  the  harbinger  of  commercial  benefits  as  great  to  the  United  States  as 
they  will  undoubtedly  be  to  the  British  Provinces. 

With  these  few  remarks,  gentlemen,  thanking  you  for  the  attention  you 
have  given  me,  I  will  assume  the  duties  of  the  chair. 

Gen.  Washburn  offereci  the  following  resolutions, 
which  were  unanimously  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  be  heartily  tendered  to 
Hon.  Samuel  Merrill,  its  President,  for  the  very  able,  satisfactory,  and 
agreeable  manner  in  which  he  has  presided  over  its  deliberations.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Eesolvedy  That  the  thanks  of  the  Convention  are  hereby  tendered  to  the 


78 

Portland  Steam  Packet  Co.,  to  Charles  FoBES,Esq.,it9  President,  and  J. 
B.  CoYLE,  General  Agent,  for  the  generous  tender  of  the  steamer  "  John 
Brooks"  for  an  excursion  down  the  harbor  this  afternoon,  and  for  their 
personal  courtesy  and  attention  on  the  occasion.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  John  A.  Poor,  of  Portland,  moved  that  the 
vote  qf  the  Convention  adopting  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  International  Relations  be  recon- 
sidered. 

Mr.  Poor  said  he  did  not  make  this  motion  because 
he  dissented  from  the  report,  or  the  views  of  the 
Committee,  but  knowing  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  the  deep  interest  in  the  question  by  the 
people  of  Maine,  he  desired  a  full  and  free  discussion. 
It  was  evident  there  was  a  misunderstanding  on  the 
part  of  some  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  as 
to  the  effect  of  the  vote  accepting  the  report  of  the 
Committee.  According  to  Parliamentary  law,  a  vote 
accepting  a  report  had  the  effect,  ordinarily,  to  bring 
the  matter  before  the  Convention,  operating  as  a 
discharge  of  the  committee.  Such,  evidently,  was 
the  understanding  of  several  gentlemen  present  He, 
therefore,  desired  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote,  by 
which  the  resolution  reported  by  the  Committee  had 
been  adopted.  He  thought  it  fiiir  that  the  whole 
matter  should  come  before  the  Convention,  and  that 
gentlemen  speaking  in  opposition  to  the  report  and 
resolution  of  the  Committee  should  do  so  without 
embarrassment. 

The  reconsideration  prevailed. 


79 


SPEECH  OF  HENRY  E.  PRENTISS,  ESQ.,  OF  BANGOR. 

Those  who  know  that  I  came  from  Bangor,  and  know  anything  of  the  busi- 
ness of  that  portion  of  the  State  of  Maine,  know  that  I  must  either  be  utterly 
false  to  the  interests,  sympathies,  wishes,  and  feelings  of  my  constituents 
who  sent  me  here,  or  else  I  am  under  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  oppos- 
ing this  report.  I  am  sorry  to  oppose  it,  because  it  has  been  sustained  by 
some  very  fine  speeches,  and  because  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  I  labor 
under  the  embarrassment  of  speaking  to  a  convention  called  by  Portland 
people,  and  organized  under  Portland  influences.  Portland  is  as  much 
bound  by  its  position  as  the  natural  sea-port  of  the  Canadas,  as  the  ter- 
minus of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad,  to  go  for  the  Reciprocity  Treaty,  as 
Bangor,  and  almost  the  entire  eastern  part  of  the  State,  are  bound  by  their 
business  interests  to  go  the  other  way.  I  am  sorry  to  speak  in  opposition 
to  the  liberal  sentiments  which  have  been  expressed  by  gentlemen  on  the 
other  side.  I  believe  I  have  some  affinity  with  the  liberal  sentiments 
which  they  have  announced.  I  admire  the  splendid  pictures  that  have 
been  drawn  of  the  prosperity  of  the  country  that  would  result  from  the 
adoption  of  free-trade  principles.  If  I  could  see  it  as  they  do,  and  see  no 
injustice  to  individual  interests,  I  should  most  cordially  go  for  it;  but  be- 
lieving otherwise,  and  seeing  practical  difficulties,  I  am  compelled  to  sug- 
gest those  difficulties,  and  to  express  my  doubts. 

Although  general  principles  lie  at  the  bottom  of  this  matter,  and  are 
most  important,  still,  inasmuch  as  I  particularly  represent  the  lumber  in- 
terest, I  will,  with  your  permission,  speak  first  of  that,  and  state  the  diffi- 
culties under  which  it  would  labor  if  the  reciprocity  treaty  were  renewed. 

In  the  first  place,  the  United  States  Government  have  sold  their  timber 
lands.  The  government  of  Maine  and  all  the  other  State  governments 
have  sold  their  timber  lauds.  All  the  timber  lands  in  the  United  States, 
of  any  consequence,  are  owned  by  private  individuals.  They  appreciate 
their  value,  and  of  course  they  ask  proportionately  high  prices  for  stump- 
age — four,  five,  or  six  dollars  for  pine,  two  or  three  dollars  for  spruce.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Crown,  in  all  the  Britist  Prov- 
inces, to  regard  the  forests  merely  as  something  to  be  used  to  promote  the 
business  of  the  country,  not  as  something  from  which  a  revenue  could  be 
derived  for  the  government.  Therefore  the  cost  of  sturapage  is  merely 
nominal.  lu  Canada,  as  I  understand  it,  pretty  much  all  the  timber  land 
that  is  desirable  has  been  leased  out  to  individual  lumbermen,  at  five  dol- 
lars a  square  mile  per  annum,  with  an  additional  eight  cents  for  standard 
logs,  and  some  thirty  or  forty  cents  a  thousand  for  what  they  cut  oft".  An 
individual  who  has  one  of  these  leases,  by  paying  five  dollars  a  year,  con- 
siders himself  as  having  a  perpetual  interest  in  the  land,  and  the  right  to 
have  the  lease  renewed  from  year  to  year.  In  other  words,  all  the  timber 
has  passed  under  that  system,  from  the  control  of  the  Crown,  and  the  tim- 
ber is  cut  by  the  lumbermen  for  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing.    Hence  they 


80 

have  no  reason  for  keeping  their  timber,  economizing  it,  sending  it  into  the 
market  as  it  is  wanted,  and  making  the  most  of  it,  but  are  under  every 
temptation  to  waste  it.  If  they  can  make  it  pay  expenses,  that  is  all  they 
want.  Labor  is  cheaper  there  than  here,  taxes  are  lighter,  and  the  conse- 
quence is,  they  would  undersell  us  in  the  American  market,  if  we  were 
not  protected  by  the  high  price  of  gold,  which  is  a  forty  per  cent  protection. 
If  a  Canadian  sends  a  cargo  of  lumber  to  New  York,  and  gets  §1,400,  he 
can  only  carry  home  $1,000  in  gold.  This  makes  the  lumber  business  a 
fair  business,  and  there  is  no  trouble.  But  let  gold  come  down  to  par,  as  it 
will  sooner  or  later,  and  ought  to  immediately;  let  the  duties  be  taken  off, 
and  the  reciprocity  treaty  carried  out,  and  the  lumber  business  will  be  pros- 
trated ;  the  weak  men  engaged  in  it  will  break  down  at  once,  with  some  of 
the  strong  ones,  and  all  the  lumber  country  will  feel  the  effect.  There  are 
many  interests  in  the  lumber  region  which  depend  upon  the  pro.si»erity  of 
the  lumber  business.  The  farmer  sells  the  produce  of  his  farm  to  the  lum- 
ber-man; the  lumber-man  hires  his  teams,  himself  and  his  boys,  to  haul; 
the  country  trader  and  the  village  trader  all  depend  upon  it,  and  when 
that  is  prostrated,  the  lumber  country  is  prostrated,  wherever  it  is. 

Now  this  is  no  small  business.  We  cut  400,000,000  in  Maine,  worth  nearly 
six  millions  of  dollars;  they  cut  1,400,000,000  [in  Michigan,  worth  twenty 
millions  of  dollars.  So  much  for  two  States.  It  is  a  business  carried  on 
more  or  less  in  all  the  States— largely  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York, 
largely  in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin.  It  is  one  of  the  great  leading  inter- 
ests of  the  country,  and  if  you  prostrate  it,  by  a  reciprocity  treaty  or  any- 
thing else,  the  whole  country  suffers  with  it.  It  is  entitled  to  considera- 
tion, and  to  a  fair  and  equal  chance  in  the  world  with  other  departments 
of  industry. 

People  talk  sometimes  of  "liberality."  Mr.  Brooks,  in  his  able  speech  this 
morning,  said  that  the  internal  trade  of  the  country  was  worth  more  than 
all  its  external  trade.  That  is  true,  and  that  is  one  reason  for  the  great 
prosperity  of  the  United  States.  That  argument  would  a])ply  to  the  Can- 
adas  exactly,  if  they  were  a  part  of  the  United  States.  They  would  then 
have  the  right  to  bring  in  their  lumber  free  of  duty,  and  the  lumber-men 
of  the  United  States  would  be  obliged  to  accede  to  it,  whether  they  wished 
to  or  not.  And  they  would  not  suffer  much,  or,  if  they  did,  it  would  be 
only  for  a  short  time.  Why?  Because  the  whole  system  of  things  would 
be  changed.  Because  the  lumber  interest  would  be  managed  differently. 
The  lumber  lands  of  Canada  would  soon  all  be  owned  partly  by  Ameri- 
cans and  partly  by  Canadians,  who  would  value  them  in  proportion  to 
their  facilities  and  opportunities,  and  look  upon  them  as  we  look  upon 
our  timber  lands.  They  would  not  waste  them;  they  would  husband 
them,  su])i)ly  the  market  with  lumber  as  it  was  wanted,  and  sell  it  for  re- 
munerative prices.  They  would  not  undersell  us  and  demoralize  our 
markets  as  they  did  under  the  reciprocity  treaty. 

There  is  another  reason,  and  a  strong  one,  why  our  business  would  be 


81 

injured.  It  is  this.  In  almost  every  other  busness  except  the  lumber 
business,  the  method  of  conducting  it  has  always  been,  that  the  purchaser 
goes  to  the  seller  and  agrees  upon  the  price  and  the  measure.  But  the 
lumber  business,  in  its  infancy,  in  Maine,  and,  I  belicA^e,  in  every  other 
State  in  the  United  States,  has  been  conducted  upon  a  system  exactly  the 
reverse.  That  is,  the  lumber  is  shipped  by  the  lumber  merchant  to  some 
commission  merchant  at  the  place  of  sale;  that  commission  merchant, 
somehow  or  other,  gets  rid  of  it  to  the  people  who  want  to  buy,  at  their 
survey  and  their  price,  and  sends  back  to  the  lumber  merchant  at  Bangor 
or  elsewhere  just  enough  to  keep  him  alive,  and  no  more;  he  bleeds  him 
just  as  much  as  he  can  without  killing  him,  tor  if  he  killed  him,  then  he 
could  not  send  him  any  more  lumber  next  year.  The  commission  merchant, 
therefore,  sends  him  just  enough  to  enable  him  to  go  into  the  woods  in  the 
winter  and  get  another  stock  of  lumber,  to  sell  in  the  same  way.  The  best 
pine  trees  of  Maine  were  got  out  under  that  sytem,  and  did  no  good  to  the 
people  of  the  State. 

Some  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  lumber-men  of  Bangor,  having  acquired 
a  little  strength,  determined  to  see  if  they  could  not  put  an  end  to  that 
method  of  doing  business.  Whon  they  went  to  Boston  after  goods,  they 
had  to  agree  on  the  price  and  the  measure  before  they  could  take  them 
away;  and  they  said  to  the  gentlemen  with  whom  they  dealt,  "  You  must 
come  to  Bangor,  and  agree  upon  the  price  of  a  pile  of  boards  and  the 
measure  before  you  can  have  them."  The  lumber  dealers,  at  first,  said 
they  would  not  come  after  them,  and  the  lumber-men  went  into  a  fight. 
They  mortgaged  their  lumber  to  enable  them  to  hold  on,  and  after  a  while 
the  lumber  dealers  came  for  it,  and  now  the  business  has  acquired  a  species 
of  independence;  it  is  placed  on  a  sort  of  equality  with  other  business;  it 
has  a  right  to  live  and  a  right  to  thrive  like  other  business;  it  has  a  right  to 
stand,  and  does  stand  somewhat  on  its  own  bottom;  it  has  prospered  fairly 
with  other  business  since  that  time. 

"What  was  the  effect  when  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  was  passed,  and 
lumber  came  in  free  of  duty?  Why,  as  they  paid  no  stumpage,  and  we 
high  stumpage  (as  labor  was  high  here  and  low  there),  they  could  ship 
lumber  to  Boston  and  all  other  places  where  lumber  is  bought,  and  sell  it 
for  just  such  a  price  as  people  would  pay.  Of  course,  if  the  Boston  mer- 
chant could  buy  it  there  at  his  own  survey  and  price,  he  would  not  go  to 
Bangor  and  buy  it  at  his  own  survey  and  price.  Let  gold  go  to  par,  and  a 
Reciprocity  Treaty  be  passed,  and  our  market  is  demoralized,  besides 
being  prostrated  by  the  fact  itself  that  they  can  produce  lumber  cheaper 
than  we  can. 

Why  is  labor  cheaper  in  Canada  than  here?  We  have  got  the  notion  that 
it  is  because  of  our  Republican  system— the  genius  of  our  Republican  in- 
stitutions. Our  laboring  men  have  got  the  notion  that  they  must  be  paid 
enough  to  keep  themselves  well  fed,  well  clothed,  and  well  housed,  edu- 
cate their  children,  have  some  leisure  for  reading,  and  the  means  for  occa- 

6 


82 

sional  pleasures.  "We  cannot  get  rid  of  that  notion;  we  have  got  to 'pay 
our  laborers  in  that  way.  The  Canadian  laborer  occupies  a  somewhat 
intermediate  position  between  the  laborer  of  Europe  and  the  American 
laborer, — better  paid  than  the  European  laborer,  and  not  so  well  paid  as 
the  American  laborer.    This  is  our  particular  ditficulty. 

Now,  on  general  principles,  the  advocate  of  reciprocity  meets,  on  the 
threshold,  the  American  system, — the  system  of  protection  to  American 
industry.  For  instance,  at  the  Commercial  Convention  in  Detroit,  three 
years  ago,  a  resolution  was  passed  recommending  a  new  reciprocity  treaty, 
based  on  justice  to  all  parties,— to  which,  if  it  could  be  carried  out,  nobody 
would  object.  But  immediately  after,  the  Committee  on  Manufactures 
reported,  and  reported  the  American  system  of  protection,  strongly  and 
in  full,  and  it  was  adopted  unanimously,  I  believe,  by  the  Convention, 
There  we  stood,  with  a  declaration  in  favor  of  a  certain  kind  of  reciprocity 
treaty,  on  the  one  hand,  followed  immediately  by  a  resolution  embracing 
the  full  American  system,  which  was  directly  at  war  with  it. 

In  this  Convention,  every  gentleman  who  advocates  reciprocity,  meets 
the  American  system  of  protection.  Early  after  the  organization  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  it  was  discovered  that  the  easiest 
way  of  raising  revenue  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  government,  was 
by  a  tariff'  upon  foreign  goods;  and  that  discovery  has,  ever  since,  been 
acted  upon.  This  is  the  cheapest,  the  most  convenient,  the  most  popular 
method  of  raising  money  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  government.  Any 
kind  of  internal  taxation  is  unpopular.  People  know  what  they  pay,— see 
it,  feel  it.  In  the  case  of  taxes  upon  foreign  goods,  they  do  not  know  what 
they  pay,  they  do  not  feel  it,  they  do  not  see  it;  and,  in  fact,  it  is  a  grave 
question  whether  the  taxes  are  paid  by  the  foreign  manufacturer  or  by  the 
home  consumer.  Practically,  it  is  probably  divided;  paid  partially  by 
one  and  partially  by  the  other.  As  incidental  to  this  system,  it  was  also 
established,  that,  in  adjusting  this  tariff,  protection  should  be  given  to 
American  industry. 

These  principles  were  settled,  and  in  practical  operation  before  the 
war  of  rebellion.  So  well  were  they  settled,  that  although  your  Demo- 
cratic orator  upon  the  stump  sometimes  talked  about  "  free  trade,"  yet 
when  the  Democratic  party  came  into  power,  and  assumed  the  responsi- 
bilities of  power,  and  had  to  raise  money  to  carry  on  the  government,  they 
found  it  necessary  to  keep  the  tariflf.  They  might  sometimes  correct  its 
evils,  correct  its  inequalities;  but  they  kept  the  tariff".  The  gentleman 
who  addressed  us  the  other  day  from  the  "West  (Hon.  J.  W.  Taylor)  said 
that  the  West  was  of  the  opinion  that  an  average  tax  of  fifty  per  cent 
was  too  high.  I  think  he  said  the  West  was  in  favor  of  a  tariff"  of 
twenty-five  per  cent,  but  thought  an  average  tariff"  of  fifty  per  cent  was 
too  high.  Particular  interests  send  lobby  members  to  Washington,  and 
sometimes  get  their  particular  branch  of  industry  too  much  protected, 
and  it  is  the  business  of  statesmen  and  legislators  to  correct  these  evils  and 


83 

reduce  these  excesses;  but  the  fact  that  there  are  excesses  is  no  valid 
reason  against  the  system. 

Now,  if  a  tariff  was  necessary  w^hen  we  had  no  debt,  or  but  a  very  small 
one,  when  our  army  and  navy  were  small,  and  all  the  expenses  of  the 
government  were  small,  how  can  we  reduce  the  tariff  now,  how  can  we 
get  clear  of  protecting  American  industry  by  collecting  our  money  by 
taxes  upon  foreign  goods,  when  our  expenses  are  so  enormous,  when  the 
amount  to  be  collected  to  pay  the  interest  on  our  debt  is  so  great,  when 
our  army  and  navy  are  so  large,  and  all  our  expenses  are  large?  It  is 
hopeless,  Mr.  Chairman;  practically,  it  is  hopeless.  Those  of  us,  farmers 
and  lumber-men,  whose  interests  are  opposed  to  the  Eeciprocity  Treaty, 
need  have  no  fears.  Kot  only  is  the  principle  of  protection  to  American 
industry  so  firmly  established  in  the  American  mind  and  heart,  but  the 
necessities  of  the  Government  are  so  great,  that  no  party  can  come  into 
power  and  adopt  any  system  of  duties  by  which  they  can  carry  on  the 
Government,  which  will  not  act  as  a  proper  and  sufficient  protection  to 
American  industry.  It  is  utterly  useless,  practically,  to  contend  against 
this.  It  is  inevitable,  in  the  nature  of  things.  The  great  debt  of  the 
United  States,  the  great  army  and  navy,  the  great  expenses  of  the  country, 
are  facts  which  cannot  be  got  over.  Our  financiers  already  find  it  difficult, 
even  with  our  present  high  tariff,  to  raise  revenue  sufficient  to  pay  the 
interest  on  the  debt,  and  other  expemses  of  the  government;  and  no  set 
of  financiers  who  will  get  into  power  in  the  United  States  in  our  day  will 
find  any  method  of  getting  along  without  laying  sufficiently  high  duties  on 
foreign  importations  to  afford  incidental  protection.  The  present  tariff"  on 
lumber  is  only  twenty  per  cent  on  the  value  at  the  foreign  market,  and, 
practically,  for  the  reasons  I  have  given,  they  do  not  pay  ten  per  cent  now. 
A  level  duty  of  twenty  per  cent  on  everything  imported  into  the  United 
States,  I  apprehend,  would  not  meet  the  expenses  of  the  government. 

But,  aside  from  this  necessity,  the  great  West,  which  has  been  relied 
upon  as  in  favor  of  free  trade,  is  getting  more  and  more  in  favor  of  the 
tariff"  continually.  It  is  getting  more  and  more  confident  of  the  wisdom  of 
its  great  statesman  and  orator,  the  father  of  the  American  system,  Heney 
Clay,  when  he  told  them  that  the  nation  which  confined  itself  to  produc- 
ing the  raw  material,  and  sent  that  material  to  the  workshops  of  Euro^De,  or 
to  any  other  country,  to  be  manufactured,  wou^d  always  be  poor,  while  the 
nation  which  did  the  manufacturing  would  grow  rich.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  are  also  aware  of  his  wisdom  in  telling  them  that  the  manu- 
facturing city,  town,  or  village  made  a  home  market  better  than  all  foreign 
markets.  They  also  believe  in  his  wisdom  when  he  told  them  that  they 
never  could  be  independent,  as  a  nation,  while  they  dejiended  upon  the 
workshops  of  Europe  to  do  their  manufacturing, — that  to  be  truly  indepen- 
dent, they  must  do  their  own  work,  manufacture  their  own  raw  material. 
He  told  them,  and  they  see  its  truth  more  and  more,  that  to  be  rich,  they 
must  develop  all  the  resources  and  bring  into  action  all  the  talents  of  the 


84 


nation.  Some  people  have  a  genius  for  husbandry;  others  for  lumbering; 
others  for  the  manufacture  of  this  article,  others  for  that;  some  for  one 
thing,  some  for  another.  If  we  raise  the  raw  material,  deriving  the  proper 
aid  from  the  mechanic,  if  we  manufacture  all  our  own  raw  material  at 
home,— and  the  nearer  the  place  where  it  is  raised  the  better,— availing 
ourselves  of  our  great  ingenuity  in  inventions  and  in  machinery,  then  we 
can  develop  all  the  resources  of  our  people,  we  can  employ  at  home  all  the 
thousand  varied  capacities  of  our  people,  and  thus  we  can  grow  rich,  we 
can  be  independent, — a  sort  of  world  within  ourselves. 

There  is  another  great  reason  for  the  necessity  of  having  the  American 
system  foimded  upon  the  genius  of  our  people.  That  is,  the  high  price  of 
labor,  which  is  established,  and  which  can  nev^r  be  altered,  essentially. 
Our  people  must  receive  enough  for  their  labor  to  raise  them  to  indepen- 
dent circumstances.  It  is  not  so  in  Europe.  An  American  traveller,  walk- 
ing out  one  morning  from  the  city  of  Florence,  along  the  macadamized 
road  which  led  up  the  valley  of  t)ie  Arno,  stopped  to  talk  with  an  old  man, 
whom  he  found  breaking  stone  with  which  to  repair  the  road.  "  How  long 
have  you  been  in  this  business?  "  "  Forty  years."  "  How  much  do  you  get 
a  day?"  "Haifa  franc,"— ten  cents  of  our  money.  "Can  you  live  on 
that?  "  "  Oh,  yes,  I  can  live  on  that."  "  What  do  you  have  for  breakfast?  " 
"  A  little  bread."  "  What  do  you  have  for  dinner?  "  "  A  little  bread." 
"  What  do  you  have  fpr  supper?  "  "A  little  bread."  It  is  true,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, that  a  single  man,  with  the  low  prices  of  Europe,  can  live  on  ten  cents 
a  day;  but  how  if  he  has  a  wife  and  children?  how  if  his  wife  or  children 
are  sick?  Why,  then,  the  poor-house  is  his  only  resort.  Let  me  ask  the 
free-traders  if  they  suppose  American  manufacturers  can  carry  on  the  busi- 
ness of  manufacturing,  without  any  protection,  in  competition  with  the 
labor  of  P^urope,  paid  such  prices?  True,  this  man  was  an  unskilled  laborer ; 
skilled  labor  is  i>aid  a  little  better.  Still,  that  anecdote  illustrates  the 
comparative  cost  of  labor  in  the  two  countries. 

One  of  two  things  is  true,— either  the  free-trader  must  satisfy  the  people 
of  this  country  that  manufacturing  can  be  carried  on  in  competition  with 
the  low-pficed  labor  of  Europe,  without  any  protection,  or  else  he  must 
invent  some  way  to  make  the  American  workman  come  down  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  European  laborer,  or  to  come  down  part  way,— a  good  deal  of 
the  way.  I  take  it  that  whoever  shall  undertake  to  reduce  the  compensa- 
tion of  our  laboring  classes  to  that  of  the  European  laborers  will  find  him- 
self outvoted. 

Well,  what  do  the  friends  of  reciprocity  do  when  they  meet  this  Ameri- 
can system,  and  see  the  difficulty  of  getting  clear  of  it?  They  say,  "  If,  on 
account  of  the  great  debt  of  the  country,  or  for  any  other  reasons,  we  must 
have  protection,  let  it  apply  only  to  distant  nations,  but  we  must  have  free 
trade  with  our  English  neighbors,  any  way."  But  here  is  a  great  difficulty 
in  the  way.  We  have  treaties  with  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  containing  a 
clause  by  which  we  agree  to  extend  to  them  all  the  advantages  that  we 


85 

give  the  most  favored  nations.  How  can  we  have  free  trade  with  Canada, 
consistently  with  this  obligation,  contained  in  every  treaty,— the  highest 
obligation,  binding  on  all  the  people  of  the  nation.  Having  this  obligation, 
is  it  statesmanlike  to  make  such  exceptions?  If  protection  to  American 
industry  is  the  true  doctrine,  or  if  necessity  imposes  it  upon  us,  is  it  states- 
manlike, business-like,  or  sensible  to  undertake  to  except  particular  nations 
from  its  operation?  Will  it  not  lead  to  infinite  difficulties  with  other  na- 
tions, irrespective  even  of  the  contract  we  have  made?  Of  course  it  will. 
And  why  should  we  make  this  exception?  Is  it  always  safe  to  assume 
that  our  English  neighbor  is  our  best  friend?  Personally  I  have  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  with  many  gentlemen  from  the  Provinces,  both  upon 
land  and  upon  water,  where  I  have  had  opportunities  to  enjoy  social  in- 
tercourse with  them ;  and  having  enjoyed  that  intercourse,  I  have  found 
them  gentlemen  of  liberal,  honorable  minds,  frank  and  hearty.  I  never 
have  had  any  objection  to  make  to  them.  I  have  not  now.  But,  as  we 
are  talking  about  matters  of  business,  it  is  proper  for  us  to  consider  every- 
thing, and  I  repeat  the  question  if  it  is  entirely  safe  to  assume  that  we 
should  depart  from  our  general  rules  of  business,  for  the  sake  of  granting 
special  favors,  special  indulgencies,  special  privileges  to  our  English  neigh- 
bors? I  met,  the  day  before  I  left  home,  a  gentleman  in  the  streets  of 
Bangor,  who  asked  me  if  I  was  coming  to  this  Convention.  I  told  him  I 
was.  "Well,",  said  he,  "I  am  in  the  Provinces  a  great  deal.  I  don't  talk 
politics  in  the  Provinces— I  am  there  for  business.  They  dont't  know  that 
I  am  a  Yankee,  and  I  have  often  heard  them  say  that  they  don't  care  any- 
thing for  the  Yankees  except  to  get  their  trade."  I  do  not  know  how  prev- 
alent this  feeling  is ;  the  gentleman  says  it  is  entertained  by  a  great  many. 
We  all  know  that  during  the  war  the  feeling  in  Canada  in  favor  of  having 
the  Union  broken  up  and  the  rebels  prevail  was  so  strong,  that  it  over- 
flowed into  the  public  press,  although  they  knew  that  those  papers  would 
find  their  way  all  over  the  world.  I  speak  of  these  things,  not  to  find  any 
fault  with  the  Canadians.  They  had  a  right,  if  they  saw  fit,  to  rejoice  in 
the  victories  of  Jeff".  Davis,  to  hope  that  our  government  would  be  de- 
stroyed, and  to  mourn  over  the  victories  obtained  by  the  government,  I  do 
not  find  any  fault  with  them  for  that,  but  that  was  the  fact.  The  Ameri- 
can traveller  who  passed  through  Europe  at  that  time  knows  the  fact  that 
in  the  old  countries  the  feeling  was  against  us.  It  is  true,  that  a  portion 
of  the  lower  classes  of  England,  led  by  John  Bright,  had  some  sympathy 
with  us;  Scotchmen  had  such  a  hatred  of  slavery,  that  when  they  found 
out  what  the  true  question  was,  they  took  our  part,  led  by  the  noble  Earl 
of  Carlisle.  (I  mention  these  names  with  honor  and  admiration.)  But 
England  was  opposed  to  us,  France  was  less  opposed  to  us,  Germany  was 
less  opposed  to  us;  Russia  was  the  only  nation  of  the  earth  that  boldly 
announced  its  sympathy  and  friendship.  I  would,  therefore,  humbly  sub- 
mit, that  if  we  are  to  depart  from  our  system  in  favor  of  any  nation,  Rus- 
sia is  entitled  to  free  trade  with  us.    If  we  are  to  be  governed  by  histori- 


86 

cal  considerations,  beyond  all  question  the  Dutchmen  are  entitled  to  free 
trade  with  us,  for  everybody  knows  that  to  the  Kepublic  of  Holland  and 
the  United  Netherlands,  we  are  indebted  for  the  able,  courageous,  bold 
and  persevering  manner  with  which  they  asserted  the  right  of  freedom  of 
religion,  freedom  of  speech,  and  freedom  of  government,  against  that 
tyrant,  Philip  of  Spain,  and  the  host  who  supported  him,  until  they  finally 
succeeded  in  establishing  that  freedom  of  thought  and  freedom  of  religion, 
that  made  republicanism  possible  to  the  United  States,  and  possible  to  the 
world.  As  a  great  Republic,  growing  out  of  that  grand  example,  and  de- 
riving benefit  from  it,  I  say  that,  beyond  all  question,  if  we  are  to  depart 
from  the  rules  of  business  at  all,  we  must  grant  free  trade  to  the  Nether- 
lands and  Holland,  in  preference  to  any  other  country. 

Some  gentlemen  in  their  arguments  have  alluded  to  the  fact  that  lumber 
is  high  in  the  United  States,  and  that  reciprocity  will  give  us  low-priced 
lumber.  They  say  that  if  we  have  a  reciprocity  treaty,  lumber  will  come 
in  free,  and  that  is  given  as  a  reason  why  reciprocity  should  exist.  They 
do  not  think  of  the  lumber-men  at  all;  they  are  only  thinking  of  low- 
priced  lumber.  They  do  not  think  of  justice  to  the  lumber-men.  What 
kind  of  justice  is  it  to  the  lumber-meu  to  have  the  Massachusetts  manufac- 
turer of  woolen  or  cotton  benefited  by  protection,  and  enabled  to  charge 
the  lumber-men  of  Maine  a  very  high  price  for  his  woolen  and  cotton 
goods,  while  at  the  same  time  he  insists  upon  having  free  tratle  with  the 
Provinces,  so  that  he  may  get  his  lumber  low?  Is  that  just?  Is  that  fair? 
What  sort  of  justice  is  it  to  protect  the  manufacturer,  so  as  to  enhance  the 
price  of  every  manufactured  article  the  lumber-man  has  to  buy,  and  at 
the  same  time  deny  the  same  principle  to  the  lumber-man  himself,  and  in- 
sist that  foreign  lumber  should  come  here  free  of  duty  in  competition  with 
him,  thus  demoralizing  the  market  and  knocking  down  prices  so  that  he 
cannot  live? 

The  fact  is,  that  when  people  say  they  want  the  Reciprocity  Treaty,  so 
that  they  can  get  cheap  lumber,  they  are  not  thinking  of  the  interest  of  the 
lumber-men  at  all,  but  only  of  getting  cheap  lumber.  They  remind  me  of 
the  man  who  was  scolded  by  his  neighbor  for  going  over  the  line  on  to  his 
land.  "  The  line  is  plain  enough,"  said  he.  "  Oh,"  rejilied  the  man,  "  I 
w.asn*t  looking  after  the  line;  I  was  looking  after  lumber."  (Laughter.)  I 
can  illustrate  it  in  another  way.  The  present  Pope  is  the  most  illiberal  and 
tyrannical  Pope  that  ever  ruled  in  Christendom;  yet,  if  you  should  happen 
to  stand  under  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  on  any  festival  day  of  the  Church, 
when  the  Poi)o  is  brought  in  on  the  shoulders  of  sixteen  Cardinals,  and 
borne  above  the  crowd  in  his  easy-chair,  you  would  see  him  smiling,  self- 
satisfied,  self-appreciating,  evidently  without  a  thought  in  his  mind  that 
he  ever  did  anything  wrong  in  his  life,  and  expecting,  when  he  dies,  to  go 
directly  to  heaven,  and  that  the  first  convocation  of  Cardinals  will  formally 
enrol  his  name  among  the  saints.  He  has  violated  no  law;  he  has  kept  all 
the  laws  that  he  himself  and  his  priests  have  made.    Now,  these  gentlemen 


87 

who  want  reciprocity  for  the  sake  of  getting  cheap  lumber  would,  in  effect, 
rob  us  just  as  much  as  an  open  robber  would  do ;  that  is,  they  would  produce 
just  as  bad  an  influence  upon  us,  injure  us  as  deeply.  Yet  it  is  not  robbery, 
because  robbery  is  a  violation  of  law,  and  nothing  is  robbery  which  is  not 
a  violation  of  law.  Therefore,  if  they  can  manufacture  everything  that  we 
want,  and  charge  us  the  high  prices  which  the  system  of  protection  enables 
them  to  charge,  and  get  a  Reciprocity  Treaty,  so  that  they  can  have  free 
trade  in  lumber,  and  make  us  literally  "  hewers  of  wood"  for  them,  with- 
out comjDensation,  they  are  all  right.  I  only  say,  that  I  trust  they  will  not 
get  the  law.  I  do  not  believe  they  will;  and  I  must  appeal  to  them,  as 
honest  men,  to  look  into  our  position,  and  see  if  it  is  fair  or  just  for  them  to 
ask  for  such  privileges. 

To  be  brief,  this  is  the  question :  If  the  principle  of  protection  to  Ameri- 
can industry  is  the  best,  or  if  the  interests  of  the  country  compel  its 
adoption,  is  it  fair  or  honest  to  make  it  partial,  to  have  three-quarters,  if 
you  please,  of  the  interests  of  the  country  protected  by  it,  and  the  other 
quarter  slaughtered  by  it?  Free  trade  in  spots,  free  trade  for  me  and 
against  you, — is  it  honest,  is  it  statesmanlike  to  press  it?  Is  it  fair  to  ask 
it?  The  American  people,  as  a  nation,  are  fond  of  fair  play.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  spirit  is  for  fair  play.  I  ask  you  if  that  is  fair  play?  I  protest 
against  it  as  not  being  so. 

Mr.  Brooks  stated  a  fact  this  morning  which  he  said  was  disgraceful, — 
namely,  that  there  are  no  American  steamers  sailing  to  Europe.  Why  are 
these  steamers  all  foreign?  For  the  same  reason  that  we  cannot  have  a 
Reciprocity  Treaty.  Simply  because  foreign  labor  is  cheap  and  foreign 
materials  cheap  in  comparison  with  ours.  They  can  build  their  steamboats 
cheaper  in  Europe  than  here;  they  can  furnish  them  with  all  their  supplies, 
provisions,  and  everything  cheaper  in  Europe  than  here ;  they  can  man 
them  cheaper  in  Europe,  and  therefore  they  have  them.  They  can  obtain 
lumber  for  almost  nothing  in  the  Provinces,  their  labor  is  cheaper,  and, 
therefore,  we  could  not  live  and  carry  on  the  business  with  free  trade.  The 
two  cases  are  precisely  alike,  and  it  is  utterly  inconsistent  for  a  man  to 
complain  that  we  cannot  have  any  American  steamers,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  talk  about  having  a  Reciprocity  Treaty. 

In  regard  to  this  report,  there  is  one  clause  in  it  which  struck  me  as  a 
little  singular.  It  says  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  farmer  is  to  be 
injured  by  a  Reciprocity  Treaty,  and  that,  so  far  as  regards  the  lumber-men, 
they  will  not  have  the  sympathy  of  the  American  people.  Why  not? 
Because  they  are  a  minority.  It  is  supposed  they  can  be  trampled  under 
foot  because  they  can  be  outvoted. 

There  remains  but  one  other  subject,  and  that  is  the  fisheries.  It  is  said 
that  the  fisheries  are  a  fruitful  source  of  discord,  and  that  it  is  necessary 
for  us  to  make  a  treaty  about  the  fisheries,  for  the  benefit  of  our  fishermen- 
Now,  the  fishermen  do  not  want  a  Reciprocity  Treaty  any  more  than  the 
lumber-men  do,  and  for  the  same  reason,— because  it  lets  into  the  United 


88 

States  more  fish,  and  knocks  down  the  price  of  their  product.  Therefore, 
they  hate  it  as  badly  as  we  do.  If  anybody  speaks  for  the  fisheries,  he 
speaks  for  the  buyers  and  not  the  sellers  of  fish. 

Again,  it  is  said  that  there  will  be  trouble  among  the  captains  of  fishing 
vessels  aboufr  bounds.  By  the  treaty  of  1818,  we  have  a  right  to  fish  oflF 
the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  the  coast  of  Labrador,  and  Magdalen  Island. 
With  regard  to  the  other  Provinces  of  Great  Britain,  we  have  only  tho 
same  right  that  other  nations  have — to  fish  until  we  come  within  three 
miles  of  the  shore,  I  say  that  there  is  no  danger  growing  out  of  that,  if 
there  ever  was.  When  Great  Britain  acknowledged  our  independence, 
somewhat  reluctantly,  we  were  a  weak  nation,  and  it  was  difficult  to  vin- 
dicate our  rights;  but  we  have  ceased  to  be  weak,  we  are  strong,  and  all 
the  nations  of  the  world  recognize  the  fact,  and  know  that  we  can  maintain 
and  defend  our  rights.  There  is  no  danger  from  that  quarter  now.  They 
respect  our  rights  and  our  power,  and  if  any  difficulty  arises  about  tho 
fisheries,  it  will  be  settled  as  we  have  settled  other  difficulties— by 
negotiation. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  occupied  some  little  time,  I  do  not  know  how 
much,  but,  I  believe,  not  more  than  the  gentlemen  have  occupied  on  the 
other  side.  I  am  the  only  person  who  has  spoken  on  this  side,  while 
several  have  been  heard  upon  the  other.  I  will  not,  at  this  late  hour, 
detain  the  Convention,  although,  under  other  circumstances,  I  should  feel 
it  proper  to  make  some  few  further  remarks. 

SPEECH    OF    EUGENE   PRINGLE,    OF   JACKSON,   MICHIGAN. 

Mr.  Chairman,— Though  this  is  not  the  subject  which  I  came  here  partic- 
ularly to  present  to  the  Convention,  though  this  matter  of  reciprocity  is 
not  a  matter  with  which  I  am  especially  familiar,  yet,  as  I  happened  to  act 
as  secretary  of  the  committee  who  made  the  report,  and  inasmuch  as  sev- 
eral gentlemen  have  requested  me  to  do  so,  I  will  endeavor  to  say  a  few 
words  in  justification  of  the  report  which  has  been  made,  answering,  per- 
haps, incidentally,  the  remarks  which  have  been  made  by  the  gentleman 
from  this  State  who  has  just  taken  his  seat. 

If  gentlemen  will  take  the  pains  to  look  at  the  report  again,  they  will 
find  the  considerations  there  adduced  to  be  mostly  general  considerations. 
Here  is  a  great  valley, — it  was  described  yesterday  as  the  Mediterranean 
of  this  continent, — extending  back  two  or  three  thousand  miles  into  the 
interior;  one  great  valley,  having  upon  it  a  people  speaking  the  same  lan- 
guage as  ourselves,  having  like  laws,  paying  the  same  sums  for  their  labor, 
and  having  like  interests,  except  for  the  line  which  divides  them  from  us, 
— a  line  as  arbitrary  as  would  be  one  which  should  divide  this  city  and  its 
trade  by  the  street  railroad.  (Loud  applause.)  These  people  who  live  on 
the  north  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  on  the  south  side,  are  not  merely 
neighbors,  they  are  residents  of  the  same  valley,  their  interests  are  alike, 
and  will  continue  to  be  alike  so  long  as  the  St.  Lawrence  flows.    (Ap- 


89 

plause.)  What  ought  we  to  do  with  reference  to  people  so  situated?  I 
might  cite  several  facts,  but  perhaps  one  relating  to  railroads  will  illus- 
trate better  than  any  other. 

A  census  of  the  United  States  was  taken  in  1850,  and  another  in  1860. 
The  law  prescribing  the  manner  in  which  the  census  should  be  taken  was 
the  same  in  these  two  years;  the  currency  of  the  country  w^as  the  same — 
upon  a  gold  basis — in  those  years,  and  yet,  when  they  figured  up,  in  1860, 
the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  country,  they  found  a  striking  difiierence.  In 
those  ten  years,  the  railroads  of  the  United  States  had  increased  from  10,- 
000  to  31,000  miles,  and  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  country  had  increased 
from  $7,000,000,000  to  over  $16,000,000,000.  In  other  words,  the  commerce 
of  the  country,  which  was  opened  by  its  railroads,  in  those  ten  years,  aided 
by  the  labor  of  the  people  for  those  ten  years,  had  added  two  thousand 
millions  more  to  the  wealth  of  the  United  States  than  had  been  added  to 
it,  as  it  was  in  a  state  of  nature,  during  the  two  hundred  and  forty  years 
that  it  had  been  inhabited  by  civilized  man,  before  it  was  opened  to  com- 
merce. Now,  what  commerce  did  for  the  United  States  in  those  years, — a 
free  commerce,  a  commerce  untrammeled, —  commerce  might  do  for  the 
Northern  States,  aye,  for  the  Southern  States  with  the  rest,  and  for  the 
Canadas,  if  it  could  be  free  and  unrestricted  between  them. 

It  was  this  broad,  general  consideration  which  influenced  the  commit- 
tee, more  than  anything  else,  in  reporting  as  they  did.  The  fact  that  the 
field  for  commercial  enterprise  would  be  enlarged,  and  the  market  both 
for  manufactured  goods  and  agricultural  products  would  be  enlarged,  is 
the  reasons,  the  self-evident  reasons,  why  there  ought  to  be  unrestricted 
commercial  intercourse  between  these  countries.  And  yet  it  would  be 
very  strange  if,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  we  have  been  placed  in 
the  various  branches  of  industry  that  have  grown  up  upon  the  one  side 
and  the  other,  this  interest  or  that  interest  might  not  be  detrimentally 
afiected.  The  gentleman  from  this  State  has  had  much  to  say  about  the 
lumber  interest.  I  do  not  live  precisely  in  a  lumber  district,  but  I  live  in  a 
State  which  manufactures  three,  four,  or  five  times  as  much  lumber  as  is 
now  manufactured  in  the  State  of  Maine.  I  refer  to  Michigan.  I  know 
some  of  these  manufacturers  pretty  well.  I  might  classify  them.  I  believe 
a  large  share  of  the  lands  there  are  owned  by  the  men  who  manufacture  the 
lumber.  They  get  out  the  logs,  they  build  the  mills,  they  manufacture  the 
lumber.  Some  of  these  men  are  among  the  first  in  the  State.  One  of  them 
is  the  present  governor  of  the  State.  Some  of  them  have  large  invest- 
ments in  enterprises  in  which  their  towns  are  interested,  as  well  as  in  their 
business.  I  know  one  firm  that  has  invested,  within  the  last  three  years, 
$250,000  in  railroad  enterprises,  and  in  building  up  the  village  in  which 
they  do  business;  and  I  know  other  firms  that  have  made  similar  invest- 
ments. Now,  although  I  have  not  talked  with  them  on  the  subject,  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  these  men  who  are  interested  in  building  up  their  towns, 
in  building  up  their  counties,  and  in  promoting  the  general  prosperity  of 


90 

the  State,  if  they  were  consulted,  would  say,  "we  are  content,  for  the  gen- 
eral good,  for  the  benefit  of  the  general  business  of  the  country,  that  there 
should  be  free  trade  and  reciprocity  between  the  United  States  and  the 
British  Provinces;  we  shall  share  in  the  general  prosperity  with  the  rest." 
(Applause.) 

There  is  another  class  of  men  in  our  State— there  may  be  fifty  or  a  hun- 
dred of  them — who  are  mere  adventurers  in  our  lumber  region.  They  have 
some  investments  in  the  land  ;  they  build  a  mill,  perhaps  ;  and  they  go  on 
with  the  manufacture  of  lumber  ;  but  if  you  talk  about  public  enterprises, 
you  are  answered  with  a  sneer.  If  you  look  at  the  income  returns,  you 
find  they  are  reported  as  having  incomes  of  S10,000,  §30,000,  or  $40,000,  and 
yet  many  of  these  men  are  doing  nothing  for  the  neighborhoods  in  which 
they  live,  doing  nothing  to  build  up  the  towns  or  cities  or  counties  in  which 
they  reside.  They  are  merely  adventurers,  speculators  in  this  business  of 
producing  lumber. 

These  men  number  in  my  Stat«,  as  I  have  said,  perhaps  fifty  or  a  hun- 
dred, as  against  a  million  who  are  interested  in  buying  lumber  and  the  ar- 
ticles manufactured  from  lumber.  (Applause.)  These  men, — why,  their 
talk  is  about  lumber  ;  their  thoughts  are  about  lumber  ;  when  they  write, 
they  write  about  lumber,  and  when  they  dream,  their  dreams  are  about 
the  consistency  of  the  sawdust  which  they  sell  to  their  towns  and  villages 
for  ten  cents  a  loa<l,  to  make  streets  with.  (Laughter.)  From  that  class 
of  lumber-men  I  should  expect,  under  any  circumstances,  opposition  to  free 
trade. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  one  of  those  who  will  go  as  far  as  any  man  in  the 
protection  of  American  labor.  Make  it  honorable.  Make  the  condition 
of  the  laborer  happy.  Help  him  to  rise  and  build  himself  up.  That  is  the 
idea,  I  believe,  of  those  who  favor  the  system  of  protection  which  has  pre- 
vailed, to  some  extent,  in  this  country.  I  would  build  them  up  ;  I  would 
help  them  build  themselves  up.  But  this  report  points  out  the  fact,  that, 
substantially,  there  is  no  difference  in  the  price  of  labor  in  the  Canadas 
and  the  United  States,  or,  if  there  is  a  difference,  it  is  only  temporary,  and 
will  soon  be  adjusted.  I  do  not  know  how  it  is  in  Maine  and  over  the  bor- 
der, but  if  there  is  not  free  trade  in  labor,  in  cutting  trees,  I  am  very  much 
mistaken.  It  is  certainly  so  between  Michigan  and  the  western  Provinces. 
The  men  who  cut  our  logs  come  from  Canada  ;  I  know  not  but  that  there 
are  men  who  go  from  Michigan  to  Canada  to  cut  timber.  There  is  certainly 
free  trade  in  this  respect,  that  the  laborers  alternate  from  one  side  to 
the  other.  So  that  upon  this  ground  I  think  there  is  no  occasion  to  find 
fault  with  this  policy.  If  there  is  any  reason  in  particular  which  has  in- 
duced our  government  to  favor  the  protective  system,  it  has  been,  not  so 
much  to  protect  manufactures,  as  to  protect  American  labor  ;  and  the  fact 
shows,  that  that  is  not  a  question  as  between  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada ;  and  it  not  being  a  question,  the  protectionist,  as  well  as  the  free-trade 
men,  may  go  for  free  trade  upon  this  continent.    (Applause.) 


91 

Mr,  Chairman,  I  did  not  hear,  althouf^h  I  know  a  great  many  lumber- 
men in  my  State,  that  during  the  last  ten  years  between  1856  and  1866, 
when  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  was  in  operation,  the  lumber  business  was 
depressed.     It  was  a  great  and  growing  interest  during  all  that  time. 

I  do  not  apprehend, — to  refer  to  another  thing  to  which  the  gentleman 
alluded, — I  do  not  apprehend  that  there  is  any  difficulty  in  bringing  about 
this  reciprocity,  growing  out  of  our  treaties  with  foreign  governments,  be- 
cause our  government  has  made  a  treaty  which  brought  it  about  for  ten 
years,  and  there  was  no  complaint  from  any  quarter.  Our  government 
may,  if  both  parties  should  be  agreed,  do  this  again. 

But  why  was  that  treaty  abolished?  Why  was  it  that  a  policy  which 
worked  so  well  for  both  parties,  which  brought  the  exports  and  imports 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Canadas  up,  in  the  ten  years,  from  six- 
teen millions  to  thirty-eight  millions, — why  was  it  that  that  policy  was 
abandoned?  I  shall  say  nothing  as  to  the  position  of  foreign  nations 
toward  us  during  the  war.  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  or  proper  to  advert 
to  the  sympathy  or  want  of  sympathy  between  our  people  and  our  neigh- 
bors during  that  time.  But  there  was  this  fact:  our  government  was 
driven  to  make  such  efforts  as  it  might  to  sustain  its  credit  and  to  carry  on 
the  war.  The  price  of  gold  had  risen  until  it  took  290  cents  in  greenbacks 
to  buy  a  gold  dollar;  taxes  had  been  jjut  on  in  one  shape  and  another  until 
they  attached  to  everything;  there  was  even  an  extra  income-tax  of  ten 
per  cent  put  on  one  year,  in  addition  to  the  regular  five  per  cent  tax. 
Every  branch  of  business  was  aflfected  by  these  taxes;  the  man  who  made 
wagons,  or  farming  implements,  or  furniture,  or  anything  that  is  sold  in 
this  country,  necessarily  felt  their  effect.  He  could  not  pay  these  taxes 
aud  send  his  goods  into  Canada,  as  he  had  done  before  the  war,  under  the 
Reciprocity  Treaty,  and  compete  with  the  Canadian  manufacturer.  He 
would  labor  under  a  disadvantage,  and  it  was  felt  that  if  the  Reci^jrocity 
Treaty  continued,  something  might  be  done  on  the  other  side  the  line  that 
would  be  injurious  to  the  American  manufacturer.  It  was  upon  this 
ground,  as  hinted  in  the  report,  that  the  treaty  was  repealed.  The  oj^inion 
is  advanced  in  the  report,  that  these  things  must  be  made  substantially 
equal  by  the  two  governments,  and  it  is  suggested  that  there  will  be  no 
difficulty  in  making  them  substantially  equal  at  the  present  time,  inasmuch 
as  all  these  taxes  have  been  lifted,  and  put  upon  whiskey  and  tobacco,  and 
a  few  other  luxuries;  that  inasmuch  as  this  is  so,  and  these  things  can  be 
made  substantially  equal,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  material  difference  in 
these  respects,  and  inasmuch  as  the  occasion  for  abrogating  this  treaty  has 
passed  away,  we  had  better  renew  it  again. 

The  government  does  not  often  have  to  meet,  as  it  did  then,  the  feeling 
of  the  people.  Every  American  will  sympathize  with  me  when  I  state 
what  it  was.  Drafts  had  been  made,  calling  upon  our  young  men  to  help 
fight  the  battles  of  the  country  ;  taxes  had  been  imposed  to  carry  on  the 
war,  first  one  and  then  another,  until  they  made  a  mountain,  as  it  were  ; 


92 

we  were  determined,  with  the  blessings  of  Providence,  to  finish  it,  at  any- 
cost.  It  was  felt  that  our  relations  with  the  Canadas  better  be  suspended 
for  a  time,  rather  than  that  we  should  give  up  the  fight.  (Applause.)  That 
was  the  feeling.  It  was  no  ill-feeling  towards  the  Canadas  which  induced 
our  legislators  to  give  the  notice  which  was  given  in  1865,  and  which  ter- 
minated the  treaty  in  April  of  the  succeeding  year. 

This  is,  substantially,  the  history  of  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  treaty. 
It  worked  well.  It  built  up  a  great  trade,  which  was  of  material  benefit 
to  all  concerned.  Now,  here  is  the  lumber  business.  In  Bangor,  in  the 
State  of  Maine,  perpaps  in  the  Saginaw,  Muskegan,  Manistee,  and  Alpena 
districts  in  Michigan,  there  are  a  few  men  who  would  oppose  a  reciprocity 
treaty.  They  consider  that  it  would  work  to  their  disadvantage,  and  would 
feel  some  interest  in  opposing  it.  Take  the  figures.  The  gentleman  [Mr, 
Prentiss]  says,  they  manufacture  400,000,000  in  Maine,  worth  $6,000,000, 
and  that  we  manufacture  1,400,000,000  in  Michigan,  worth  $20,000,000.  That 
makes  82(),000,000.  That,  I  fancy,  is  about  one  and  a  half  per  cent  of  the 
real  wealth  of  the  country.  No,  it  is  less  than  that;  it  would  not  represent, 
I  suppose,  one  and  a  half  per  cent,  or  not  more  than  fifteen  dollars  in  a 
thousand,  of  the  combined  capital  invested  in  the  various  interests  of  the 
American  union. 

There  are  other  things  that  might  be  said  in  connection  with  this  subject. 
I  might  say  that  it  is  wrong  here  in  Maine,  wrong  in  Michigan,  wrong 
everywhere  whore  lumber  is  standing,  that  it  should  be  held,  generation 
after  generation,  by  men  as  monopolizers.  (Applause.)  It  is  wrong  in 
regard  to  any  of  the  lands  which  the  good  God  meant  men  should  culti- 
vate. I  know  not  the  character  of  the  Maine  timber-lands,  but  the  lands 
of  Michigan  upon  which  the  pines  stand  are  about  as  good  as  any  lands  , 
capable  of  producing  all  the  cereal  crops,  and  with  everything  to  make 
them  good  farms,  and  much  more  profitable  to  humanity  when  the  pines 
are  cut  off  of  them,  than  while  they  stand  upon  them.  This  may  be  the 
case  in  Maine,  and  men  should  not  hold  these  lands,  generation  after  gen- 
eration, as  monopolizers,  and  keep  them  from  the  men  who  desire  to  culti- 
vate them.  If  there  are  any  men  in  Maine  who  hold  thousands  of  acres, 
and  transmit  them  from  father  to  son  for  generation  after  generation,  I 
can  say  this  about  it,  that  the  sympathies  of  the  people  of  my  State  are 
not  with  them  in  their  monopoly;  nor,  I  fancy,  are  the  sympathies  of  the 
people  of  this  State. 

The  lumber-man  has  no  vested  right  in  the  business  which  he  has  built 
up.  There  was  no  guaranty,  when  the  government  sold  him  the  land, 
that  he  should  be  protected  from  Canadian  or  any  other  competition  in  the 
sale  of  the  lumber  which  grew  upon  that  land.  He  has  no  vested  rights, 
no  guaranty  or  agreement  from  the  government,  and  can  plead  nothing  of 
the  kind.  Reciprocity  has  existed  for  ten  years,  and  those  ten  years  of 
reciprocity  ought  to  give  him  notice,  by  the  way  it  worked,  that  there  will 
be  reciprocity  again,    (Applause,) 


93 

Again;  it  is  two  hundred  miles,  I  suppose,  more  or  less,  from  here  to 
Canada.  It  is  considerable  protection,  I  fancy/to  the  Maine  lumber-men, 
that  the  Canadian  lumber  must  be  brought  two  hundred  miles,  when  that  of 
this  State  may  be  brought  fifty,  a  hundred,  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  as 
the  case  may  be.  Distance  is  in  favor  of  the  American,  if  he  will  sell  in 
the  American  market.  I  fancy  that,  if  this  whole  subject  of  lumber  were 
considered,  if  we  should  go  to  the  bottom  of  it,  and  consider  all  the  in- 
terests involved,  not  only  of  those  dealing  in  lumber,  but  of  those  employed 
by  them,  selling  them  goods,  and  making  their  little  livings  in  the  towns 
and  villages,  it  would  be  clearly  proved  that  it  is  for  the  interest  of  the 
cities  and  townships  that  there  should  be  free  trade  in  all  things,  lumber 
included,  rather  than  that  the  present  policy  should  continue.  I  think  this 
would  be  found  to  be  the  case,  and  so  feeling,  not  wishing  to  misrepresent 
the  interests  of  my  own  State,  having  no  objection  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
lumber  business,  but  wishing  to  promote  every  interest  in  the  country 
generally,  and  looking  to  general  considerations,  and  these  alone,  I,  with 
the  rest  of  the  Committee,  came  to  the  conclusion  to  say  what  we  did. 

This  claim  to  a  monopoly,  this  claim  to  special  protection,  on  the  part 
of  luraber-men,  is  one  in  which,  as  the  Committee  say,  the  American  peo- 
ple do  not  sympathize.  There  are  a  thousand  consumers  of  lumber  where 
there  is  one  producer.  We  are  all  interested  in  building  up  our  towns, 
villages,  and  cities.  The  lumber-man,  unless  he  belongs  to  the  class  of 
adventurers  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  will  have  interests  of  that  kind 
which  will  be  subserved  by  the  treaty,  and  he  will  thus  be  benefited  in 
that  direction  as  much  as  he  will  lose  in  the  other.  But,  as  I  said  at  first, 
it  was  no  part  of  the  Committee's  duty  to  undertake  to  prove  that  there 
was  no  little  interest,  or  even  large  interest,  taken  by  itself,  but  little  as 
compared  with  the  aggregate  throughout  the  country,  which  might  not,  in 
a  particular  point  of  view,  be  injuriously  afl:ected  by  reciprocity;  but  we 
believed,  that,  in  a  broad,  general  view,  the  interests  of  the  country  re- 
quired reciprocity,  and  hence  we  were  in  favor  of  it. 


SPEECH   OF   HON.    E.    H.    DERBY, 

The  gentleman  from  Maine  has  been  most  happily  answered  by  the  gen- 
tleman from  Michigan;  the  great  lumber  State  of  the  West  has  adminis- 
tered a  very  proper  rebuke  to  the  little  lumber  State  of  the  East.  I  would 
not  venture  to  speak  again,  having  already  been  favored  by  this  Conven- 
tion with  an  audience  of  some  duration,  did  I  not  find  in  the  fact  that  I 
have  been  employed  by  the  government  in  making  some  investigations  on 
this  subject,  and  been  consulted  by  the  committee,  a  reason  for  ofiering 
some  suggestions  in  this  discussion. 

I  am  reminded  of  a  little  incident  that  happened  to  a  friend  of  mine,  a 
Mr.  Walker,— not  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  who  so  ably  address- 
ed us,  but  a  gentleman  who  went  out  to  England  as  an  agent  of  the 


94 

Treasury  Department.  He  gave  me  an  account  of  his  visit  and  said, 
among  other  things,  that  one  day  he  was  invited  to  a  dinner  party,  at 
which  there  were  many  English  gentlemen,  bankers,  and  others.  In 
the  course  of  the  dinner,  there  was  a  discussion  as  to  American  affairs, 
and  the  suggestion  was  made  that  we  had  a  very  high  tariff,  while  in  Eu- 
rope they  are  for  free  trade.  My  friend  listened  some  time  to  the  views  of 
the  different  gentlemen  who  spoke  on  the  subject  of  free  trade,  but  at 
length,  having  an  opportunity  to  reply,  he  said,  "  You  speak  of  your  free 
trade  as  though  we  had  none  in  America.  Permit  me  to  say,  that  we  have 
a  free  trade  infinitely  more  extensive  than  yours.  "We  have  a  free  trade 
that  nearly  pervades  the  continent.  There  is  a  circle  purged  by  the  tariff, 
but  inside  of  that,  we  have  a  commerce  eight  times  as  large  as  our  foreign 
trade,  which  extends  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  the  Gulf,  while  you  on  this  little  Isle  are  hemmed  in  by  the 
tariffs  that  fetter  the  coast  of  Europe."  Now  the  wish  I  have  in  regard  to 
the  subject  is,  that  we  may  have  free  trade  over  the  entire  continent,  and 
that  the  Provinces  may  be  brought  in  to  participate  in  tne  benefits  which 
we  enjoy.    (Applause.) 

Something  has  been  said  here  with  regard  to  a  protective  tariff,  and  gen- 
tlemen have  arrayed  themselves  more  or  less  on  one  side  or  the  other. 
Though  the  tone  of  the  meeting  would  seem  to  favor  free  trade  as  against 
the  protective  system,  I  venture  to  say  we  have  no  protective  system, per 
ae,  established  in  the  United  States  of  America.  Before  the  war,  the  aver- 
age duties  of  the  United  States  of  America  did  not  exceed  fifteen  percent. 
We  raised  upon  imi>orts  less  than  $400,000,000,  a  revenue  of  $60,000,000,  or 
fifteen  per  cent,  at  the  commencement  of  the  war.  How  stands  it  to-day? 
Did  we  create  the  tariff  for  the  purposes  of  protection?  We  created  the 
tariff  for  the  purposes  of  revenue,  and  we  decided  to  place  the  duties  upon 
the  luxuries  of  the  country  and  not  upon  its  necessities.  We  impo.sed 
taxes  upon  our  manufactures— we  taxed  air,  light,  locomotion,  we  taxed 
everything,  not  to  secure  a  protective  system,  but  to  obtain  means  to  carry 
on  the  government;  and  now,  having  ended  the  war,  do  we  require  this 
revenue  system  in  time  of  peace?  Having  ended  the  war,  havim^  caught 
Jeff.  Davis  (if  we  have  not  hung  him,  we  have  overthrown  him),  having 
marched  our  army  to  Richmond  and  taken  it,  are  we  bound  to  continue 
the  revenue  system  forever? 

What  has  Congress  done  at  the  last  and  the  preceding  sessions?  They 
have  repealed  $200,000,000  of  domestic  taxes.  Is  it  not  time  to  take  off  the 
foreign  duties  which  were  put  on  to  counteract  this  domestic  taxation? 
Are  we  to  go  on  forever  as  we  do  now?  What  is  the  condition  of  the 
country  to-day?  I  have  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  speaking  a 
moment  upon  that  point.  We  have  reduced  the  appropriations  for  the 
government  of  the  United  States  the  coming  year,  under  the  ad^^sement 
of  your  representative,  Mr.  Blaine,  who  acted  as  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Appropriations,  to  $289,000,000,  and   of  this,  $40,000,000  are  for 


95 

bounties,  and  I  understand  that  but  $13,000,000  are  required  for  that 
I)urpose,  which  will  reduce  the  $289,000,000  to  about  $260,000,000.  The 
coming  year,  with  the  reduction  of  interest,  and  its  cessation  on  the  com- 
pound interest  notes,  we  shall  bring  the  expenses  of  the  government  down 
to  $230,000,000  or  $240,000,000.  And  how  are  we  going  to  raise  that  money? 
Is  it  by  a  tax  upon  lumber  ?  We  are  going  to  raise  it,  in  part,  by  a  tax  on 
spirits  and  tobacco.  We  intend  to  pay, — I.  say  it  to  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
Provinces,  who  come  here  on  this  occasion  to  aid  us  in  our  deliberations, — 
we  intend  to  pay  the  whole  interest  of  the  debt,  within  two  years'  time,  by 
a  tax  on  distilled  and  fermented  liquors  and  tobacco.  That  will  relieve  the 
government  from  the  necessity  of  imposing  a  tax  upon  lumber,  to  which 
the  gentleman  has  adverted,  for  the  purposes  of  revenue.  We  have,  then, 
the  whole  revenue  from  customs  to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
government.  What  has  it  yielded?  It  has  yielded  $103,000,000  directly, 
and  some  $46,000,000  in  addition,  derived  from  incidental  receipts,  the  sale 
of  gold,  &c.  Over  $200,000,000  have  been  derived  from  that  source.  Now 
gentlemen,  if  we  require  but  $250,000,000  in  the  aggregate,  and  if  we  can 
derive  $100,000,000  from  spirits  and  tobacco,  ale  and  beer,  as  we  can,  why 
do  we  require  more  than  $130,000,000  or  $140,000,000  from  the  tariff?  We 
Lave  other  taxes;  we  have  a  small  tax  on  incomes,  we  have  licences,  we 
have  .stamps,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  we  may  reduce  our  entire  tariff 
one-third,  may  repeal  the  tax  on  incomes,  do  away  with  stamps,  take  off 
the  tax  on  licences,  and  place  ourselves  in  a  more  favorable  position  than 
either  Great  Britain  herself  or  any  one  of  her  Provinces  to-morrow.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  do  not  require  the  taxes  to  which  the  gentleman  alludes. 
(Renewed  applause.)  We  are  in  a  position  of  great  strength;  we  are  in  a 
position,  sir,  to  dispense  with  the  duty  on  lumber. 

•  And  now  permit  me  to  say  one  word  for  a  class  in  this  country  which  has 
been  adverted  to  by  the  gentleman  from  Michigan — the  consumers.  What  is 
the  effect,  gentlemen,  of  the  tariff  which  is  imposed  upon  Canadian  lumber? 
We  draw  one-third  of  our  lumber  from  the  Provinces,  the  other  two-thirds 
from  the  United  States.  We  impose  a  tax  upon  the  foreign  lumber.  What 
is  the  efiect  of  it  ?  Is  it  not  to  add  the  whole  amount,  twenty  per  cent,  to 
the  cost  of  all  the  lumber  to  the  American  who  purchases,  to  triple  the  tax 
on  lumber? 

We  are  told  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  parted  with 
all  its  timber  lands,  and  that  they  have  gone  into  private  hands,  but  that 
the  English  Government  have  not  parted  with  theirs.  But  is  it  not  the  fact 
that  in  both  cases  the  lands  have  gone  into  private  hands  ?  What  is  the 
difference  in  title?  One  holds  in  fee,  the  other  holds  by  license, — a  license 
to  cut,  which  cannot  be  revoked,  as  I  understand,  or  which,  in  practice,  is 
not  revoked.  It  is  equivalent  to  a  title,  and  the  holder  can  prevent  all 
other  parties  from  cutting  on  the  land.  The  British  land  is  held  by  private 
individuals,  and  the  point  the  gentleman  makes,  that  here  the  land  is  in  the 
hands  of  private  proprietors,  and  on  the  other  side  it  is  not  in  the  hands  of 


96 

private  proprietors,  falls  to  the  ground.  The  truth  is,  that  the  private 
parties  stand  on  the  same  footing  on  each  side  of  the  border. 

The  gentleman  has  undertaken  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  legislation  of 
the  Pope.  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  travelling  through  Europe,  as  I  in- 
fer he  has  done.  I  traveled  through  the  territories  of  the  Popes  over  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  and  found  it  governed  very  much  upon  the  princi- 
ple the  gentleman  would  have  us  adopt  in  regard  to  lumber.  There  are  all 
sorts  of  restraints  upon  the  people.  I  saw  no  new  houses.  I  have  no 
doubt  the  Pope  has  a  duty  on  lumber.  I  did  not  find  that  his  people  had 
lumber  enough  to  repair  the  old  houses,  much  less  to  build  new  ones. 
Wlien  the  gentleman  drew  his  picture  of  the  harsh  regulations  of  the 
pleasant  and  agreeable  old  gentleman,  I  felt  that  with  his  pleasant  face 
and  harsh  doctrine  he  was  personifying  the  Pope. 

The  gentleman  made  some  allusion  to  the  fisheries.  I  do  not  understand 
that  the  fishermen  have  delegated  the  lumber-men  to  represent  their  views 
in  this  Convention.  I  have  some  acquaintance  with  the  fishermen  of 
Gloucester  and  other  towns  in  Massachusetts,  and  so  far  as  I  know,  they 
were  in  favor  of  a  renewal  of  the  tfeaty,  if  they  could  be  put  on  an  equal- 
ity with  British  fishermen.  What  they  desired  was,  to  be  liberated  from 
taxes  and  duties,  and  that  relief,  I  trust,  will  be  given  by  Congress  at  its 
next  session.  They  wish  to  be  ]>rotected  simply  by  being  placed  in  the 
same  position  as  British  fishermen,  by  being  freed  from  the  restrakita  of 
taxes  and  duties,  as  far  as  the  government  can  possibly  free  them ;  because 
upon  the  ocean,  they  enter  into  a  free  competition,  where  no  protective  law 
can  help  them.  The  fishermen  go  for  the  treaty;  they  are  for  it  to-day, 
and  in  their  behalf  I  ask  this  assembly  to  go  for  the  revival  of  the  treaty. 

Now,  gentlemen,  if  the  fishermen  favor  the  renewal  of  the  treaty,  why 
should  it  not  be  renewed?  Look  at  the  configuration  of  the  country. 
Glance  for  a  moment  at  the  position  of  the  different  sections  of  the  co\jn- 
try  and  of  the  Canadas.  On  the  one  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  a  moist 
climate,  favorable  to  the  growth  of  lumber.  From  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence, along  the  banks  of  the  great  river,  along  the  western  shores  of  the 
great  lakes,  onward  to  the  Slave  Lake,  to  the  Peace  River,  to  the  Assini- 
boin,  and  the  Saskatchewan,  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  Columbia  River 
and  Frazer's  River,  away  on  to  the  north,  the  country  is  full  of  lumber. 
Glance  at  our  own  country.  A  little  lumber  remains  in  Maine.  The  pine 
trees,  I  understand  from  the  gentleman  himself,  are  nearly  exhausted. 
The  little  pine  that  remains  is  enhanced  in  value  by  the  duty  of  twenty 
per  cent,  perhaps  ten  dollars  per  thousand,  and  away  in  the  British  terri- 
tory are  these  interminable  forests,  these  inexhaustible  stocks  of  lumber. 
Why  should  we  not  use  of  them?  Why  should  we  not  have  the  benefit  of 
them  when  we  put  up  the  cottage,  or  the  church,  or  lay  the  roof  of  the 
shanty  for  the  Irishman  who  is  to  work  on  your  railroads?  Has  not  na- 
ture given  us  the  forests?  Has  not  nature  designed  that  we  should  draw 
on  the  forests  for  the  support  of  the  prairies?    Are  we  not  doing  it,  in 


97 

spite  of  the  duty?  I  believe  it  is  a  bountiful  provision  of  nature,  that  one 
portion  of  this  continent  should  produce  the  lumber  and  the  other  con- 
sume it,  and  I  believe  there  should  be  free  trade  between  them. 

Upon  what  principle  of  political  economy  does  the  gentleman  stand 
when  he  goes  for  a  tax  upon  an  article  of  prime  necessity  like  lumber?  Is 
that  the  policy  of  the  government?  The  policy  of  the  government  to-day 
is,  to  tax  the  luxuries  of  the  rich,  not  the  shanty  of  the  poor  man.  That 
is  not  the  policy  of  the  United  States.  When  we  deal  with  spirits,  we  im- 
pose the  highest  duty  we  can  enforce ;  when  we  dfial  with  tobacco,  we  im- 
pose the  highest  duty  we  can  collect;  but  when  we  deal  with  an  article  of 
prime  necessity,  like  lumber,  there  is  no  American  principle  which  will 
warrant  us  in  imposing  a  tax  upon  it.  Lumber  is  an  essential  article.  It 
enters  into  the  barn  and  house  of  the  farmer,  it  enters  into  the  shed  erected 
upon  the  prairie,  it  enters  into  the  construction  of  the  railroad,  it  enters 
into  the  ship,  it  enters  into  almost  everything.  How  are  we  to  restore  the 
commercial  marine  of  this  great  nation,  if  we  put  a  tax  of  twenty  per 
cent  upon  the  lumber  used  in  the  building  of  vessels?  I  believe  we  should 
have  no  duty  of  that  kind.  I  believe  that  the  gentleman  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  this  State — not  numerous — are  now  sufficiently  protected,  as  was 
suggested  by  my  friend  from  Michigan  by  the  element  of  distance.  It  may 
be  that  they  must  float  the  few  remaining  pine  and  spruce  trees  in  the 
State  two  hundred  miles  down  the  Penobscot  or  Kennebec,  but  they  are 
protected,  even  then ;  for  the  Canadian,  instead  of  going  two  hundred  miles, 
as  my  friend  suggested,  has  to  go  four,  five,  or  six  hundred  miles.  Push- 
ing to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ottawa,  to  the  upper  lakes,  even  to  the  bor- 
ders of  Huron  and  Superior,  he  floats  his  lumber  down  five  hundred  or 
one  thousand  miles,  in  many  instances,  to  enter  into  competition  with  the 
lumber-men  of  Maine.  The  gentleman  and  his  friends  are  protected  by 
distance;  and  it  is  a  protection  growing  daily  higher  and  higher:  for  as 
tree  after  tree  is  cut,  the  forest  is  removed  from  the  borders  of  the  lakes, 
and  the  lumber-man  goes  back  further  and  further  into  the  interior;  his 
lumber  becomes  more  and  more  remote  every  year,  and  higher  and  higher 
grows  the  protection  to  his  American  competitor. 

Let  me  ask  if  the  gentleman  and  his  associates  have  not  already  been 
unduly  protected  ?  Let  me  ask  him  whether,  when  the  five  per  cent  tax 
was  put  on  all  other  manufactures,  it  was  put  on  sawed  lumber?  No 
answer?  It  was  not  taxed.  By  the  sagacity  of  the  lumber-men,  they 
escaped  the  five  per  cent  tax  that  was  put  on  clothing  and  cotton,  and  the 
thousand  other  manufactured  articles. 

Mr.  Pkentiss.  I  am  not  aware  that  lumber  is  exempted.  "We  pay  our 
income-tax  upon  lumber,  as  well  as  upon  other  things. 

Mr.  Derby.  I  understand  that ;  but  I  ask  if  the  five  per  cent  tax  upon 
manufactured  articles  was  collected  upon  lumber? 

Mr.  Prentiss.    I  don't  know  that  it  was. 

Mr.  Derby.  If  the  gentleman  had  paid  it,  I  think  he  would  have  known 
it    (Applause  and  laughter.) 

7 


98 

I  will  detain  you  but  a  few  moments  longer,  but  I  wish  to  make  a  few 
general  remarks  in  regard  to  the  treaty.  The  only  objection  made  to  this 
treaty,  which  affects  a  great  many  commodities,  comes  from  the  lumber 
interest.  The  gentleman  suggests  that  we  are  not  to  make  any  distinction 
between  nations,  or,  if  we  make  any  distinction,  it  should  be  in  favor  of 
Russia.  I  believe  we  should  "  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,"  and  that 
our  first  arrangement  should  be  made  with  those  who  live  beside  our  own 
waters,  in  our  own  vicinity. 

But  the  gentleman  has  suggested  that  the  newspapers  of  Canada  spoke 
unkindly  of  us  during  the  war.  I  wish  to  ask  who  wrote  the  articles,  who 
prompted  them,  who  paid  for  them?  "Were  they  not  paid  for  by  the  agents 
of  Jeff.  Davis  over  the  Canadian  border?  Did  they  not  come  from  them? 
If  the  gentleman  thinks  the  sympathies  of  the  Canadians  were  against  us, 
let  me  ask  him  how  it  happens  that  at  this  very  moment  large  sums  of 
money  are  paid  by  our  government  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  the 
volunteers  from  Prince  Edward  Island,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Canada,  who 
shed  their  blood  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  in  its  great  contest 
with  secession?  That  is  an  off-set  for  all  the  agents  of  secession  may  have 
said  in  the  papers  of  Canada,  and  for  any  aid  they  may  have  received 
across  the  border.  The  answer  to  the  gentleman's  argument  is,  they  shed 
their  blood  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  this  great  Republic,  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  integrity  of  this  Republic,  the  great  hope  of  the  nations.  By 
the  shedding  of  their  blood  and  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives,  they  have  can- 
celled any  amount  of  injury  this  country  may  have  received,  growing  out 
of  the  sympathy  manifested  for  the  South  during  our  great  contest.  (Ap- 
plause. ) 

I  will  notice  but  one  other  point,  and  that  is,  the  point  the  gentleman 
makes,  that  we  are  to  treat  other  nations  as  we  treat  Canada, — that  we  are 
to  treat  all  other  nations  as  the  most  favored  nations  are  treated.  What 
difficulty  is  there  with  regard  to  that?  Does  agriculture  require  protection? 
What  the  Provinces  require  is,  that  the  ruder  products  of  agriculture 
should  be  free  from  tax  or  from  duty.  We  will  liberate  wheat,  we  will 
liberate  oats,  we  will  liberate  lumber,  as  we  have  done  before;  we  will 
liberate  the  ox,  the  horse,  and  the  mule.  We  drew  upon  Canada  for  the 
horses  and  mules  to  carry  on  our  war.  I  know  not  what  we  should  have 
done  without  the  aid  we  had  from  Canada,  We  will  liberate  them  all,  and 
then  if  Russia  says, "  We  wish  you  to  liberate  our  horses  and  oxen  and 
cattle,  and  our  corn  and  oats,"  we  will  do  it.  Who  will  suffer  ?  Is  there 
any  objection  to  having  these  products  of  the  earth  come  in  here  free  of 
duty  ?  Have  we  arrived  at  such  a  pass  that  we  require  the  protection  of 
our  agriculture,  of  our  horses,  and  our  forests  against  Canadian  competi- 
tion? We  give  away  our  land;  we  charge  no  rent,  we  charge  nothing  for 
the  fee,  we  give  the  actual  settler  his  homestead,  after  we  have  incurred 
the  expense  of  the  survey,  and  is  it  necessary  for  the  protection  of  that 
settler  in  the  sale  of  his  products,  is  it  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 


99 


forests,  that  we  shall  interdict  all  other  lands  and  forests  from  contributing 
to  our  comfort  and  convenience?  Have  we  come  to  that?  Is  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  affairs  of  this  great  nation?  For  one,  sir,  I  believe  that  the 
position  of  this  nation  is  stronger  to-day  than  it  ever  was.  I  believe  we  are 
in  the  strongest  position  of  any  nation  whatever.  Look  at  the  revenue  we 
collect.  We  are  requiring  but  $250,000,000  or  $260,000,000.  Convert  that,  in 
the  present  state  of  our  currency,  into  pounds  sterling,  and  what  does  it 
amount  to?  It  amounts  to  about  one-half  the  tax  levied  by  England.  It 
is  levied  upon  forty  millions  of  people;  the  taxes  of  England  are  levied 
upon  thirty  millions.  Look  at  the  income  of  the  people  of  this  country, 
and  compare  it  with  that  of  the  people  of  foreign  countries.  The  gentle- 
man has  alluded  to  Italy,  and  has  cited  the  condition  of  the  laborer  of 
Florence.  Let  me  make  a  comparison  between  this  country,  England,  and 
Italy.  By  recent  statistics  published  in  the  English  papers,  it  is  shown 
that  one-half  the  families  of  Italy  have  an  average  revenue  of  from  ten  to 
fifteen  pounds  per  annum.  That  is  to  say,  the  average  revenue  of  half  the 
families  of  Italy  is  from  $50  to  $75  a  year,  on  which  to  sustain,  not  only 
the  male,  but  the  female  and  the  children.  How  is  it  in  England?  The 
average  revenue  in  England  is  £100  for  the  family  ($500).  How  is  it  in  my 
State,  Massachusetts,  to-day?  With  1,300,000  people,  and  with  a  wealth,  if 
you  count  everything  omitted  by  the  assessor,  equal  to  at  least  $2,000,000,000 
—holding,  as  she  does,  $200,000,000  in  railroads,  $200,000,000  or  $300,000,000 
more  in  United  States  bonds,  and  a  vast  amount  in  factories,  in  commerce 
in  navigation,  and  in  floating  wealth, — how  is  it  with  Massachusetts  to-day? 
The  average  revenue  of  the  families  of  Massachusetts,  instead  of  being 
$60,  amounts  to  over  one  thousand  dollars  in  gold  (loud  applause),  twice 
the  average  revenue  of  English  families,  with  all  the  wealth  of  England, 
and  much  more  equitably  distributed,  and  ten  or  fifteen  times  the  revenue 
of  the  family  in  Italy. 

Inasmuch  as  the  gentleman  has  made  that  allusion  to  the  rate  of  com- 
pensation for  labor  in  Italy,  let  me  ask  you,  sir,  if  the  rate  of  labor  in 
England,  or  the  rate  of  labor  in  Canada,  or  in  Kova  Scotia,  is  ten  cents  a 
day  ?  Can  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  procure  labor  in  Halifax  for  ten  cents  a  day? 
I  understand  that  if  I  want  to  hire  there,  I  must  pay  $1.10  or  $1.20,  in  gold, 
not  ten  cents.  What  does  the  gentleman  mean  by  ten  cents?  Are  they 
hewing  wood  or  drawing  water  in  Canada  for  ten  cents  a  day? 

Mr.  Prentiss.  I  did  not  say  so.  I  did  not  speak  of  Canada,  I  spoke 
of  Italy. 

Mr.  Derby.  You  spoke  of  Italy.  I  ask  why  it  was  introduced  into  the 
discussion  at  all?  The  question  is  as  to  the  price  of  labor  on  this  conti- 
nent, not  of  hammering  stone  in  Italy.  Let  me  ask  you  if  the  Canadian 
laborer  does  not  cross  the  boundary?  Do  not  the  laborers  of  Canada  come 
up  the  waters  of  Champlain  and  over  the  railroads,  and  toil  on  the  farms 
and  in  the  forests  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire;  and,  although  we  do 
not  work  for  ten  cents  a  day,  do  we  not  get  labor  as  cheap  as  in  Canada, — 


100 

the  only  difference  being  the  cost  of  transportation,  and  a  little  increase  on 
account  of  the  higher  cost  of  living  on  this  side  the  boundary?  The  analo- 
gies of  the  gentleman  are  not  to  be  relied  upon.  The  truth  is,  there  is  no 
great  diversity  in  the  price  of  labor  on  the  different  sides  of  the  line. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  have  trespassed  too  long  upon  your  patience  in  this 
desultory  discussion.  There  are  other  gentlemen  present  conversant  with 
this  question.  All  I  would  say  upon  this  subject  is,  that  this  important 
treaty,  affecting  a  great  variety  of  articles,  largely  affecting  the  commerce 
in  the  products  of  the  country, — a  treaty  which,  if  renewed,  will  extend 
the  role  of  our  manufactures  over  a  great  part  of  Canada, — is  not  to  be 
defeated  by  the  opposition  of  gentlemen  who  have  been  unusually  favored 
by  the  government  during  the  war,  and  who  are  not  entitled  to  charge  us 
twenty  per  cent  advance  on  an  article  of  necessity,  and  compel  us  to 
pay  twenty  per  cent  more,  or  twice  that  amount,  for  lumber  purchased  in 
this  country,  compared  with  that  purchased  abroad. 

Hon.  John  A.  Poor  moved  that  the  Convention 
adjourn  to  ten  o'clock  to-morrow,  and  spoke  briefly 
in  support  of  the  motion. 

Mr.  Hamilton  A.  Hill,  of  Boston,  and  Mr.  Jones,  of 
Salem,  opposed  it,  and  Hon.  John  Neal,  of  Portland, 
spoke  in  its  favor;  when  it  was,  on  motion,  laid  on 
the  table. 

Mr.  Jones,  of  Salem,  moved  the  adoption  of  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Reciprocity. 

Mr.  Poor  expressed  the  hope  that  before  the  ques- 
tion was  put,  the  Convention  might  hear  from  the 
delegation  from  Prince  Edward  Island. 

SPEECH  OP  HON.  MR.  BRECKEN,  OF  PRINCE  EDWARD  ISLAND. 

As  a  representative  of  the  smallest,  and,  I  must  say,  the  most  insignifi- 
cant of  the  British  Provinces,  I  feel  a  very  great  degree  of  diffidence  in 
arising  to  address  an  assembly  of  this  character;  but  I  am  unwilling  to 
see  this  conference  close  without  acknowledging  the  kind  reception  which 
we  have  received  from  the  citizens  of  Portland  and  the  members  of  this 
great  Convention.  We  have  abstained  from  entering  into  the  discussion 
of  the  various  important  and  momentous  questions  which  have  engaged 
the  attention  of  this  Conference,  and  which  have  been  dealt  with  in  such 


101 

a  courageous,  such  a  manly  spirit;  but  coming  from  a  little  Province,  it  has 
been  a  very  great  treat  to  me  to  listen  to  the  debate.  I  must  say,  that  the 
sentiments  which  have  been  expressed  here  have,  in  the  main,  commanded 
my  approval  and  admiration. 

Although  we  on  the  island  are  not  directly  interested  in  some  of  the 
questions  which  have  been  discussed  here,  yet  I  hope  we  are  sufficiently 
cosmopolitan  in  spirit  to  see  that  we  are  interested  to  a  certain  extent, 
because  I  hold  that  no  line  of  steamers  or  railroad  can  be  established 
which  does  not,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  confer  benefits  upon  mankind 
in  general.    (Applause.) 

I  have  not  the  good  fortune  to  be  a  commercial  man,  consequently  I 
do  not  feel  qualified  to  attempt  anything  like  a  speech  upon  these  great 
commercial  questions;  but  I  should  be  very  obtuse  indeed  if  I  failed  to 
perceive  the  important  results  which  will  inevitably  flow  from  these  great 
undertakings,  which  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  carried  forward  to  comple- 
tion. When  I  look  at  this  great  country,  and  consider  how  young  it  is, 
how  many  years  must  elapse  before  it  can  celebrate  its  centenary,  when  I 
look  upon  the  vast  wealth  that  has  already  been  gathered,  and  then  look 
upon  these  great  undertakings  which  have  been  alluded  to,  I  feel  assured 
that,  within  a  very  short  time,  they  will  be  accomplished. 

The  little  Province  in  which  I  live  had  the  good  fortune,  for  ten  years, 
to  hold  more  intimate  commercial  relations  with  this  country  than  at  pres- 
ent exist.  As  I  said,  I  am  not  a  business  man,  and  I  do  not  intend  to  go 
into  any  details ;  but  this  I  can  say,  that  while  the  treaty  existed,  it  afford- 
ed satisfaction  and  pleasure  to  the  inhabitants  of  Prince  Edward  Island, 
and  we  were  aware  that  the  chief  cause  of  the  abrogation  of  that  treaty 
was,  as  has  been  stated  by  the  Hon.  Mr.  Derby  and  the  gentleman  from 
Michigan  (Mr.  Pringle)  who  preceded  him.  You  had  to  pass  through  a 
severe  ordeal,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  policy  pursued  was  necessary. 
But,  as  the  gentleman  (Mr.  Derby)  has  stated,  these  troubles  have  passed 
away,  you  have  passed  through  the  trying  ordeal,  and  I  suppose  those  i^- 
cessities  no  longer  exist. 

Not  being  a  commercial  man,  as  I  have  said,  it  does  not  become  me  to 
enter  into  details,  or  to  specify,  or  attempt  to  specify,  what  the  arrange- 
ments ought  to  be ;  but  I  can  say  this,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Prince 
Edward  Island,  that  as  soon  as  arrangements  are  made  for  the  renewal  of 
the  treaty,  by  the  people  having  authority  to  deal  with  it,  it  will  afford 
very  great  satisfaction  to  us.  We  are  your  neighbors;  we  fully  appreciate 
the  liberality  and  frankness  of  spirit  which  characterize  the  merchants  of 
America,  as  far  as  we  have  dealt  with  them.  Our  trade  has  not  been  ex- 
tensive, for  our  resources  are  small;  but  what  we  have  is  of  consequence 
to  us,  because  it  is  our  all,  and  we  wish  to  increase  the  facilities  of  the 
the  country  as  fast  as  possible.  Since  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty,  we 
have  sent  our  grain  to  the  northern  country,  and  I  can  say  that  we  have 
not  sufiered  much  from  the  change.  The  fact  is,  that  last  year  our  grain 
commanded  higher  prices  than  ever  before. 


102 

I  am  not  prepared  with  any  statistics  with  regard  to  the  fisheries.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  mackerel  fishery  round  Prince  Edward  Island  is  the  most 
valuable  mackerel  fishery  that  American  fishermen  engage  in,  and  I  be- 
lieve, as  Mr.  Derby  has  said,  that  the  American  fishermen  are  willing  and 
desirous  that  their  relations  with  us  should  be  restored  to  the  same  foot- 
ing as  they  were  during  the  existence  of  the  treaty.  I  listened  with  some 
interest,  for  I  like  to  hear  both  sides  of  a  question,  to  the  arguments  which 
were  advanced  by  the  gentleman  from  Maine.  We  all  look  at  subjects  in 
the  light  of  our  own  interest,  and  he  looked  at  this  question  from  that  point 
of  view.  But  I  must  say  that  I  could  not  see  the  force  of  his  argument 
when  he  spoke  of  the  three  miles.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  right  to  fish 
within  three  miles  of  the  coast  is  any  great  advantage.  Last  year,  it  is 
true,  the  fishermen  were  able  to  take  their  fish  outside.of  that  limit,  but 
generally  speaking,  it  is  necessary  to  follow  the  fish  in,  and  strike  them 
vrithin  that  distance.  I  could  not  understand  the  argument  of  the  gentle- 
man. He  did  not  attempt  to  say  whether  the  privilege  to  fish  within  three 
miles  was  of  consequence  or  not,  but  he  said  that  America  was  a  more 
powerful  nation  now  than  when  the  treaty  was  brought  about  in  1818. 
There  is  no  doubt  you  are.  Your  growth  has  been  most  extraordinary, 
and  it  commands  the  admiration  of  every  British  citizen.  But  in  the  next 
breath,  he  said  that  you  respected  treaties.  I  suppose  he  would  not  be 
willing  to  say  that  "  might  makes  right."  If  a  treaty  is  in  existence,  I  ex- 
pect it  will  be  carried  out,  and  that  we  shall  be  dealt  with  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  international  law;  that  our  interests  will  be  respected.  I  do  not 
think  the  gentleman  meant  much  when  he  said  that  the  treaty  was  weaker 
now  on  account  of  the  great  strength  of  this  country. 

However,  we  are  getting  along.  We  would  be  happy  to  renew  our  com- 
mercial relations  with  our  neighbors.  God  and  nature  intended,  I  believe, 
that  we  should  live  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  you.  You  are  our 
nearest  neighbors;  and  we  do  not  forget  (as  we  are  reminded  on  every 
occasion  when  we  meet  a  citizen  of  the  United  States)  the  oneness  of  our 
orfgin,  the  oneness  of  our  language  and  literature,  and,  I  might  almost  say, 
the  oneness  of  our  political  institutions;  for  while  you  pride  yourselves 
upon  your  admirable  constitution  and  republican  form  of  government,  and 
while  our  constitution  and  institutions,  in  some  respects,  may  differ  from 
yours,  still,  we  recognize  the  one  great  principle  which  underlies  the  insti- 
tutions of  both  countries,  and  that  is,  that  the  people  are  the  real  source  of 
the  governing  power.  (Applause.)  In  that  principle  we  are  one,  and  we 
ought  to  be  one  in  other  things.  I  believe  we  are;  and  while  we  all  pro- 
perly look  to  the  protection  of  our  own  interests,  still,  we  have  but  one 
object.  Surely,  this  great  and  powerful  country,  a  country  which  has  been 
endowed  by  God  with  richer  gifts  than  any  other  country  in  the  world,  a 
country  of  which  we  have  been  told,  correctly,  that  its  material  resources 
are  of  such  an  extent  that  you  cannot  build  your  railroads  speedily  enough 
to  keep  pace  with  its  developments, — surely,  I  say,  such  a  country  as  this 


103 

can  afford,  notwithstanding  the  arguments  adduced  by  the  gentleman  from 
Maine,  to  deal  liberally  with  the  countries  that  surround  her.  (Applause.) 
"What  terms  the  Colonial  authorities  would  require,  I  am  not  prepared  to 
say,  but  I  believe  they  are  ready  to  deal  in  the  fairest  and  most  liberal 
spirit  with  this  great  country.  Of  course,  as  this  is  a  subject-matter  affect- 
ing England,  any  arrangement  that  is  made  must  be  with  the  approbation 
of  the  mother  country. 

I  wish  again  to  return  my  thanks  for  the  kindness  which  has  been 
extended  to  us,  and  to  acknowledge  the  very  great  privilege  I  feel  it  to  be, 
to  have  been  allowed  to  attend  the  Convention.  Whatever  the  material 
results  may  be,  whatever  the  commercial  results  may  be,  the  kindness  and 
good-feeling  which  have  been  exhibited  here  cannot  fail  to  have  important 
results  in  strengthening  the  bonds  of  friendship  and  amity  between  the 
two  countries. 

SPEECH    OF   HON.    H.    E.    PRENTISS. 

As  there  seems  to  be  a  disposition  to  close  this  discussion  to-night,  I  will 
ask  for  two  minutes  to  reply  to  each  of  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side, 
and  two  minutes  on  the  general  subject,  making  eight  minutes  in  all. 

In  regard  to  the  last  gentleman,  he  did  not  understand  what  I  said  about 
the  three  miles.  I  say,  that  by  the  law  of  nations,  the  ocean  belongs  to 
mankind,  and  they  have  the  right  to  fish  in  it  or  do  anything  else  in  it,  sub- 
ject to  the  right  of  each  nation,  within  a  marine  league  of  its  own  shore; 
there  we  have  no  right  to  fish.  What  I  meant  to  say  was  this,  that  if  any 
diflBculty  arose  between  two  fishermen,  as  to  whether  a  vessel  was  two  or 
three  miles  from  shore,  the  two  nations  are  too  powerful,  and  have  too 
much  respect  for  each  other's  rights  and  power,  to  go  to  war  about  it;  that 
they  would  settle  it  by  negotiation.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that "  might 
is  right,"  but  when  we  took  Mason  and  Slidell  from  under  the  British  flag, 
with  the  intense  feeling  that  existed  in  this  country,  the  government  could 
not  have  given  them  up  if  the  nation  had  not  known  that  England  was 
right  as  well  as  strong.  A  similar  feeling  may  exist  in  the  Provinces. 
Knowing  that  the  Provinces  are  right  and  strong,  we  shall  respect  each 
other's  rights  better  because  we  respect  each  other's  strength. 

Mr.  Derby  says  lumber  is  a  prime  necessity  of  life,  and  therefore  ought 
not  to  be  protected.  He  forgets  that  his  coat,  and  every  other  garment  he 
wears,  is  an  article  of  prime  necessity;  but  the  manufacturers  of  Massa- 
chusetts have  secured  protection  for  their  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  and  in 
consequence  of  that  protection,  they  are  enabled  to  levy  upon  us  lumber- 
men a  tax  of  fifty  per  cent  more  than  they  otherwise  would;  and  I  say,  if 
they  are  entitled  to  that  protection,  we  are  entitled  to  a  similar  protection 
upon  lumber,  if  it  does  raise  the  prices  to  them.  That  replies  to  his  whole 
speech,  in  substance. 

In  regard  to  the  gentleman  from  Michigan,  he  complains  of  the  Owners 


104 

of  timber  land,  and  appeals  to  popular  sympathies  and  popular  passions 
against  them,  because  they  choose  to  manage  their  property  according  to 
their  judgment  of  what  is  best  for  them  and  for  the  country.  I  do  not  hold 
anybody  responsible  for  words  spoken  in  the  heat  of  debate,  but  I  say  that 
the  spirit  of  that  speech  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  speech  which  Caius 
Gracchus  mafle  in  the  streets  of  Eome  twenty  centuries  ago;  and  if  he  is 
the  man  I  think  he  is,  he  is  ashamed  of  it  now. 

Again;  his  argument  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  owners  of  the  timber 
land  of  Michigan  to  sell  it  to  the  farmers,  for  agricultural  purposes,  to  cut 
down  the  timber  and  burn  it  (for  that  is  the  argument,  and  that  is  what 
he  contends  for),  shows  that  he  knows  nothing  about  his  own  State,  so  far 
as  lumber  is  concerned,  nothing  of  the  relation  of  supply  and  demand, 
nothing  of  the  supply  of  lumber.  I  beg  leave  to  suggest  that  the  forest  is 
given  by  God  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  it  will  all  be  needed  for  those 
houses  for  the  poor,  those  churches  and  other  buildings  that  the  gentle- 
man from  Massachusetts  has  so  eloquently  talked  about;  and  he  who 
wastes  the  lumber  of  Michigan  or  of  Maine  by  cutting  it  down,  twenty 
thousand  to  the  acre,  and  burning  it  upon  the  land,  is  a  bad  economist.  He 
commits  a  sin  against  man  and  against  God,  destroys  one  of  the  best  gifts 
of  God  to  man,  and  one  of  the  great  sources  of  wealth  to  this  country; 
and  if  the  gentleman  lives  to  the  common  age  of  man,  he  will  lament  that 
so  much  timber  has  been  cut  down  and  wasted.  He  will  want  it,  and  his 
children  will  want  it. 

Now,  a  word  upon  the  general  subject.  The  circumstances  under  which 
I  closed  [the  audience  manifesting  some  impatience]  prevented  me  from 
referring  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  which,  is  one  of  the 
great  arguments  always  brought  forward  in  favor  of  reciprocity.  That 
argument  was  worth  something  before  the  experiment  was  tried;  but  we 
have  had  the  right  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  for  ten  years, 
and  we  never  used  it.  The  number  of  vessels  that  went  down  the  river 
was  so  small  that  they  have  not  dared  to  give  it  in  their  statistics;  but, 
they  say,  that  when  the  West  grows  and  attains  its  fullest  development, 
it  will  want  the  St  Lawrence  as  well  as  the  railroads.  My  reply  is,  that 
the  railroads  will  always  be  sufficieut,— always  be  the  nearest  and  most 
direct  way  from  the  great  Lakes  of  the  West  to  the  old  world;  and  Mr. 
Poor  and  a  thousand  other  railroad  heroes  have  found  out  how  to  build 
railroads,— have  found  out  that  railroads  pay,  both  in  money  and  fame; 
and  they  will  find  new  chances  for  railroads  from  the  great  West  to  the 
Atlantic  coast  wherever  they  ought  to  be;  and  they  have  the  capacity  to 
show  where  it  is  important  they  should  be  built,  and  they  will  be  built. 
That  is  the  way  the  great  West  is  to  communicate  with  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board and  Europe.  The  St.  Lawrence  is  frozen  up  six  months  in  the  year; 
it  is  too  far  north ;  emptying  into  dangerous  and  tempestuous  seas,  where 
losses  are  frequent,  and  insurance  consequently  high;  it  is  too  far  out  of 
the  way  of  Europe,  and  time  is  money  in  this  business.    For  these  reasons, 


105 

I  say  that  geography  is  against  the  St.  Lawrence  being  of  any  value  to  the 
West, — climate  is  against  it, — time  is  against  it,  and  it  is  of  no  weight  in  the 
matter.  The  free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  i)ractically  worth 
nothing,  for  it  will  never  be  used.  The  business  of  the  West  will  come  by 
railroad. 

Gentlemen,  as  I  said  when  I  commenced,  I  was  perfectly  aware  of  the 
unfavorable  circumstances  under  which  I  spoke.  I  knew  then  perfectly 
well,  and  know  now, — I  knew  before  I  left  home, — those  who  sent  me  here 
knew,  how  the  vote  would  be  upon  reciprocity,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Port- 
land, called  by  Portland  folks,  who  invited  whom  they  pleased  from  the 
Canadas,  and  invited  men  known  to  be  in  favor  of  the  treaty  (laughter 
and  applause);  but  the  lumber-men,  my  fellow  citizens,  at  Bangor, have 
so  much  regard  and  admiration  for  Portland,  so  much  regard  for  the 
people  of  the  Provinces,  that  they  thought  it  was  only  showing  proper 
respect  for  them  to  come  here  and  talk  a  little  on  the  other  side.  You 
may  do  what  you  please  on  the  subject.  There  is  one  thing  which  consoles 
me,  in  some  degree,  for  the  reception  which  my  remarks  have  met,  and 
that  is,  that  I  consider  it  somewhat  local.  I  think  the  question  has  got  to 
be  settled  by  Congress.  I  believe  that  the  State  of  Maine  generally  is 
with  me.  Although  this  fine  city  of  Portland  happens  to  be  against  me, 
and  this  particular  crowd  happens  to  be  against  me,  there  are  people 
enough  in  Maine  who  are  with  me,  and  I  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  if  they  hear  of  tliis  Convention  at  all,  will  not  care  much 
what  it  said,  or  what  anybody  else  said,  but  will  dispose  of  the  matter 
about  as  they  think  proper.    (Applause  and  laughter.) 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  following  letter  from 
Hon.  Chas.  Francis  Adams  : 

QuiNCY,  July  30, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir, — It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  attend  the  proposed  Com- 
mercial Convention  to  which  you  have  invited  me,  if  I  could  do  so  with 
convenience  to  myself;  but  my  long  absence  from  home  renders  it  impera- 
tively necessary  for  me  to  devote  a  few  months  exclusively  to  my  private 
aflfairs.  * 

I  always  regretted  the  manner  in  which  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  was  ter- 
minated, as  you  may  perceive  in  my  printed  oflScial  correspondence.  It 
might  easily  have  been  modified  in  its  defective  part,  as  I  knew  that  the 
disposition  of  the  British  Government  was  favorable.    To  make  a  new  one 

will  be  attended  with  more  difiiculty. 

I  am,  very  truly, 

C.  F.  ADAMS. 

The  question  was  then  put,  and  the  report  of  the 
Committee  adopted. 


106 
On  motion  of  John  A.  Poor,  Esq., 

Resolved,  That  Hon.  Frederick  Robie,  of  Gorham,  Maine,  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  this  Convention,  be  authorized  to  publish  tJie  records  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Convention ;  and 

Resolved,  That  members  of  the  Convention  and  invited  guests  be  respect- 
fully requested,  on  account  of  the  limited  time  allowed  for  discussion,  to 
place  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  for  publication  among  the  proceedings 
of  the  Convention,  such  communications  as  they  may  be  pleased  to  make, 
containing  facts,  arguments,  and  suggestions  upon  the  various  subjects 
discussed  by  the  Convention;  and  that  the  Secretary  cause  the  same  to  be 
inserted  in  their  approjiriate  place,  and  printed  as  a  part  of  the  doings  of 
the  Convention,  with  such  documents  and  other  information  as  he  may 
thus  receive. 

In  pursuance  of  the  foregoing  vote,  the  following 
papers  are  here  inserted,  selected  from  the  many 
communications  received  in  reply  to  invitations  to 
attend  the  Convention : 

Letter  from  the  Chief  Engineer  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad, 

MiDDLETOWN,  CONN.,  July  27, 1868. 
To  Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Oentlemen,— As  it  will  not  be  possible  to  meet  with  you  on  the  4th  prox- 
imo, I  comply  with  your  request  so  far  as  to  give  in  writing  the  views  I 
entertain  in  relation  to  one  of  the  objects  of  your  Convention,  that  of 
adopting  measures  for  securing  railway  communication  across  the  conti- 
nent, a  subject  to  which  I  have  given  much  attention. 

When,  in  1834, 1  was  intrusted  with  the  survey  and  report  of  what  was 
termed  the  Ontario  and  Hudson  Steamboat  Canal,  a  project  which  may 
yet  be  revived  in  connection  with  the  Niagara  Canal,  and  which  resulted 
in  the  enlargement  of  the  Erie  Canal  throughout  to  Lake  Erie,  I  had  occa- 
sion to  examine  into  the  character  of  the  country  north  and  west  of  the 
great  lakes. 

In  this  investigation  the  gradual  amelioration  of  the  climate  in  proceed- 
ing west  particularly  attracted  my  attention,  and  its  importance  in  con- 
nection with  the  future  commerce  of  the  lakes  induced  me,  from  such  facts 
as  I  then  could  gather  in  regard  to  it,  to  trace  the  course  of  the  isothermal 
lines  on  the  map  of  the  lake  region  which  accompanied  my  report.  The 
position  of  these  lines,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lakes,  was  evidently  much  in- 
fluenced by  the  lakes  themselves,  but  to  the  west  of  them  their  northerly 
trend  in  their  course  west  was  still  more  marked,  and  this  tendency,  I 
subsequently  ascertained,  extended  all  the  way  to  the  Pacific.    This  fact 


107 

was  obvious  from  such  few  meteorological  observations  as  I  could  gather 
from  the  military  posts  on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  the  settlements  on  the 
Eed  River,  and  on  the  Lower  Columbia  and  at  Puget  Sound,  and  also  from 
the  character  of  the  vegetation  of  the  intermediate  country  so  carefully 
and  truthfully  described  by  McKenzie,  Harmon,  Governor  Simpson,  Lewis 
and  Clark,  Des  Smet,  Douglass,  Dunn,  Culbertson,  Bonneville,  and  others. 

The  evidences  all  conspired  to  show,  that,  beginning  with  what  is  now 
Minnesota  and  proceeding  west,  the  climate  becomes  gradually  milder ; 
this  gradual  change,  although  interrupted  in  part  by  the  mountain  region, 
attaining  on  Puget  Sound,  in  the  latitude  of  Quebec,  to  a  mean  annual 
temperature  corresponding  with  that  of  the  upper  portion  of  Chesapeake 
Bay.  I  found,  also,  that  the  mountain  range,  or  main  divide  of  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Pacific  waters,  was  greatly  depressed,  and  for  a  long  distance, 
where  the  sources  of  the  ^Missouri  and  of  Clark's  branch  of  the  Columbia 
interlock,  afibrding  many  practicable  and  easy  passes,  three  of  which  were 
traversed  by  Lewis  and  Clark. 

I  found,  also,  that  the  snows  in  these  passes  were  not  heavy,  but  the 
reverse ;  that  the  range  where  Lewis  and  Clark  encountered  deep  snows, 
was  not  the  Rocky  Mountain  range  proper,  but  the  Blue  or  Bitterroot 
Mountains,  further  west,  which  would  not  be  passed  by  a  railroad  prop- 
erly located,  and  I  was  able  to  construct,  from  the  very  accurate  descrip- 
tions of  Lewis  and  Clark,  a  map  much  more  full  and  accurate  than  was 
given  in  the  published  narrative  of  those  explorers,  because,  probably,  of 
the  decease  of  Captain  Lewis,  the  principal  man  of  the  expedition,  before 
its  publication. 

I  also  extended  my  researches  into  the  topography  and  climate  of  the 
entire  region  south  to  the  southern  limit  of  the  Union.  When,  therefore, 
the  advance  of  our  railway  system  from  the  Atlantic  sea-board  west,  ren- 
dered it  evident  that  it  must  soon  pass  the  Mississippi,  and  ultimately 
stretch  on  to  the  Pacific,  I  was  quite  well  prepared  to  form  a  judgment  as 
to  the  eligible  routes  to  be  pursued,  and  to  see  clearly  that  the  projectors 
of  some  of  the  routes  proposed  were  not  masters  of  the  subject,  or  they 
would  not  have  made  the  mistake  of  placing  their  routes  in  impracticable 
directions. 

None  of  them,  however,  selected  what  is  now  known  as  the  Northern 
Route,  for  as  late  even  as  1851  or  1852,  no  one  save  myself,  so  far  as  my 
knowledge  extended,  believed  such  a  route  possible,  because  of  the  sup- 
posed great  elevation  of  the  mountains,  the  severity  of  the  cold,  and  the 
depth  of  the  snows. 

My  own  convictions,  derived  from  my  researches,  as  above  stated,  were 
80  strong,  not  only  as  to  the  feasibility  of  a  route  in  that  direction,  but  as 
to  its  superiority,  that  I  then  determined  to  devote  such  time  as  I  could 
spare,  from  the  active  duties  of  my  profession,  to  getting  upon  paper  the 
knowledge  I  had  gathered.  This  was  done,  and  not  long  after  it  was  giv- 
en to  the  public,  in  the  columns  of  the  American  Railroad  Journal,  of 


108 

which  your  chairman,  Hon,  John  A.  Poor,  was  then  the  proprietor,  and  his 
brother  the  editor,  both  of  whom  were  early  and  most  able  and  efficient 
pioneers  in  advancing  the  cause  of  railways  throughout  the  Union. 

Subsequently,  in  January  7, 1854,  the  articles  thus  published  in  the  Rail- 
road Journal  were  republished  in  book  form,  with  maps  and  a  profile,  the 
elevations  upon  the  latter  being  mostly  deduced  from  the  flow  of  the 
streams,  and  such  other  evidence  as  I  was  able  to  collect,  and  early  in  the 
same  month  I  received  the  first  gratifying  confirmation  of  the  correctness 
of  my  deductions  in  a  letter  from  Lieutenant,— now  General  Rufus  Sax- 
ton, — who  was  despatched  with  supplies  from  the  Pacific  coast  to  meet 
Governor  Stevens,  who  was  then  on  his  way  west  trom  St.  Paul  to  the 
mountains.  Lieutenant  Saxton  crossed  the  main  divide  of  the  waters  at 
what  is  now  called  Cadet's  Pass,  and  joined  Governor  Stevens  at  Fort 
Benton. 

I  had  sent  to  Lieutenant  Saxton  some  numbers  of  the  "  Journal,"  and 
on  the  first  of  Januarj^  1854,  he  wrote  to  me  as  follows: 

"  I  have  been  very  much  pleased  and  interested  with  the  portion  of  your 
writings  on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  route,  which  is  now  being  ex- 
plored by  Governor  Stevens,  that  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  peruse,  and 
surprised  at  the  coincidence  existing  between  your  conclusions  and  my 
own  personal  observations.  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  rea<ling  all  of 
your  articles,  and  would  esteem  it  a  favor  if  you  would  send  me  one  of 
your  books.  I  think  I  can  discover  some  errors  in  location  of  different 
points  in  your  sketch,  but  these  do  not  aflfect  the  great  principles  upon 
which  your  work  is  founded,  so  long  as  the  main  facts  remain.  The  high- 
est point  I  passed,  I  think,  is  south  of  Lewis  Pass,  but  it  is  jwssible  that 
they  may  be  identical.  My  barometer,  an  aneroid,  and  of  course  liable  to 
error,  gave  the  pass  an  elevation  of  4,674  feet  above  the  sea." 

This  measurement  was  the  first  made  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  range  in 
that  direction,  or  north  of  the  soutli  pass,  and  was  to  me  the  more  gratify- 
ing, as  a  letter  received  from  Governor  Simpson,  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, was  not  encouraging  as  to  my  estimate  (5,000  to  fi,000  feet)  of  the 
elevation,  but  he  added  "  that  wherever  my  authority  is  cited,  you  have 
fairly  represented  my  opinions,  and  your  descriptions  of  the  soil,  produc- 
tions, and  general  features  of  the  territory,  with  which  I  am  personally 
acquainted,  are  in  accordance  with  my  own  observations."  Governor 
Simpson,  in  conclusion,  assured  me  that  he  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  un- 
dertaking, appreciating  as  he  did  "  the  vast  advantages  that  must  arise  to 
the  United  States  and  adjoining  Provinces  in  the  event  of  this  magnifi- 
cent scheme  of  a  railroad  being  carried  into  execution." 

The  aneroid,  which  Lieutenant  Saxton  deemed  unreliable,  was  subse- 
quently found  to  have  given  a  result  considerably  at  variance  with  the 
truth.  The  profile  prepared  by  me,  because  of  the  confidence  in  its  general 
correctness,  was  copied  into  an  Essay  on  the  Canadas,  which  received  the 
prize  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1855.     The  elevations  of  principal  points 


109 


upon  it,  as  compared  with  the  most  reliable  measurements  since  made,  are 

as  follows : 

Profile.      Measurement. 

Take  Superior  above  sea  level  in  feet 630  600 

Divide  between  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi 1,334  1,332 

Crossing  of  3Iississippi 1,150  1,152 

Divide  between  Mississippi  and  Red  River 1,706  1,479 

RedRiver 1000  985 

Plateau  du  Coteau  du  Missouri 2,300    about    2,500 

Missouri  River,  mouth  of  Yellowstone 2.040  2.010 

Fort  Benton 2,790  2,780 

Main  Summit 5,000  to  6,000  5,400 

Mouth  of  Hellgate  River,  at  Clark's  River 2,800  3,000 

Col.  River,  mouth  of  Yakima 400 

Cascade  Range,  north  of  Mount  Ranier 4,000  3,030 

Upon  the  large  map  accompanying  my  Memoir  was  traced  the  isothermal 
line,  of  the  mean  annual  temperature  nearly  of  New  England,  conforming 
to  the  latest  observations.  Its  position  in  the  Saskatchewan  valley,  as 
since  ascertained,  was  too  far  to  the  south  by  two  or  three  degrees.  The 
descriptions  of  Harmon  and  McKenzie,  of  the  vegetation  of  the  Unjigale, 
or  Peace  Kiver,  justified  a  more  northern  location,  but,  in  the  absence  of 
positive  thermometrical  observations,  it  was  placed  as  described. 

On  the  publication  of  the  Memoir,  letters  were  received  from  gentlemen 
who  were  acquainted  with  the  country  from  personal  observations, — if  not 
of  the  whole,  of  large  portions  of  it, — and  from  others  whose  researches 
had  made  them  acquainted  with  it;  also  from  men  of  high  standing  in 
science,  and  from  gentlemen  of  my  own  profession,  all  confirming  the 
accuracy  of  the  facts  and  the  justness  of  the  conclusions. 

Minnesota  was  then  alfcerrilory  extending  west  nearly  to  what  is  now  the 
eastern  limit  of  Montana.  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Williamson,  then  a  resident  in  it, 
at  Pejutazee,  thus  wrote  in  regard  to  it.  May  17,  1854: 

"  So  far  as  I  am  capable  of  judging,  the  conclusions  at  which  you  have 
arrived  are  correct.  This  country  is  not  inferior  for  the  production  of  grain 
or  vegetables  to  any  in  the  United  States.  The  impediments  from  snow 
on  the  northern  route  will  not  be  found  greater,  but,  so  far  as  Minnesota  is 
concerned,  less  than  you  have  supposed.  It  now  lacks  a  few  days  of 
twenty  years  since  I  firsf  came  to  this  territory." 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  for  some  time  missionary  to  the  Spokane 
Indians,  near  Fort  Colville,  Oregon,  now  Washington  Territory,  under 
date  of  March  9, 1854,  confirmed  all  that  was  stated  in  the  Memoir  as  to  the 
mildness  of  the  climate  of  that  region.  Then  the  people  of  that  section 
(lat.  48"  N.)  were  "  making  their  gardens  and  sowing  their  fields,  and  grass 
was  up  some  inches  high." 

Governor  James  Duane  Doty,  of  Wisconsin,  since  iGrovernor  of  Utah, 
wrote  on  the  29th  of  March,  the  same  year,  having  just  heard  from  his  son, 
who  was  making  explorations  between  Fort  Benton  and  Clark's  branch  of 
the  Columbia,  as  follows:  "  I  have  read  with  deep  interest  your  Memoir  on 
the  railroad  routes  to  the  Pacific,  and  deem  your  statements  and  arguments 
in  favor  of  the  northern  route  conclusive.  My  son  enters  warmly  into 
these  views." 


110 

Hon.  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  who  had  visited  and  was  familiar  with  the 
country  west  of  Lake  Superior  to  the  Red  River  and  beyond,  and  who  had 
made  the  character  of  the  country  and  the  climate  westward  to  the  Pacific 
a  particular  study,  thus  wrote,  March  13,  1854:  "A  road  built  from  Lake 
Superior  or  St.  Anthony's  Falls  to  the  Missouri,  and  by  Lewis'  Pass, 
through  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  the  Clark's  Fork  of  the  Columbia,  and 
down  the  Columbia,  through  the  Cascade  Range,  will  pass  through  tracts 
which  are  capable  of  continuous  settlement.  Much  of  the  soil  is  first-rate 
farming  lands,  which  will  bear  corn  and  all  the  cereals,  and  these  lands  can 
be  cultivated  without  irrigation.  It  abounds  in  flowing  streams  which  will 
sustain  arts  and  manufactures,  and  no  part  of  the  world  is  better  suited  to 
grazing." 

From  Professor  Silliman,  sen.,  of  Connecticut;  Professor  Ren  wick,  of 
New  York;  Professor  Lathrop,  of  "Wisconsin;  Professor  Thompson,  of 
Vermont;  \V.  C.  Redfield,  of  New  York,  and  other  learned  and  intelligent 
gentlemen,  letters  were  received,  all  of  them  concurring  in  the  truth  of  the 
facts  as  given  in  the  Memoir,  and  conceding  that  the  arguments  advanced 
as  to  the  superiority  of  the  northern  route  were  unanswerable. 

From  members  of  the  profession  of  Civil  Engineers,  many  letters  wei€ 
also  received  of  similar  import  to  the  following,  which  is  selected  for  its 
brevity,  written  by  a  gentleman  who,  for  several  years,  was  superintendent 
of  the  Boston  and  Providence  Railroads,  but  who,  at  the  time,  was  presi- 
dent of  one  of  the  leading  railroads  of  New  England: 

•  Boston,  March  18,  1854. 
My  Dear  Sir,— I  have  received  the  copy  of  your  "Railroad  to  the  racific,"  kindly 
forwarded  to  me  by  yourself,  rermit  me  to  express  the  great  satisfaction  wliich  its 
perusal  has  afforded.  You  have  performed  a  most  important  service  to  the  country,  in 
presenting  to  it  a  case  of  such  vital  interest,  in  a  manner  so  conclusive  and  intelligent. 
As  one  of  the  nation,  I  desire  to  thank  you  for  the  service,  and,  as  one  having  some 
interest  in  the  profession,  to  congratulate  you  upon  having  executed  it  so  well. 

With  great  respect, 

WM.  RAYMOND  LEE. 

I  will  add  one  more,  of  a  more  recent  date,  for  the  reason  that  the  writer, 
who,  for  many  years,  had  charge  of  the  department  of  Civil  Engineering 
in  Union  College,  New  York,  and  was  author  of  a  valuable  treatise  on 
Engineering,  was  at  first  inclined  to  favor  a  more  southern  route.  It  is  as 
follows : 

UjnoN  CoLLEOK,  New  York,  March  7, 1866. 

I>ear  5tr,— My  attention  has  recently  been  earnestly  directed  to  the  Pacific  Railroad 
routes,  and  I  have  ju8tjt>een  re-reading,  with  great  interest,  your  report  of  1853.  You 
were  in  advance  of  the  times.  I  could  not  appreciate  then  the  depth  and  breadth  of 
your  views.  I  am  now  disposed  to  indorse  them  ftilly,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends. 
A  visit  from  a  friend  and  former  pupil,  resident  for  the  last  ten  years  all  over  the 
ground  in  question,  has  cleared  up  to  me  many  doubtful  points.  lie  thinks  the 
northern  route  decidedly  the  best,  except  for  the  importance  of  San  Francisco;  but 
you  have  answered  that. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  yours  truly, 

W.  M.  GILLESPIE. 


Ill 

These  opinions  are  presented  to  show  the  estimate  put  upon  the  northern 
route  by  men  competent  to  judge  of  its  merits,  and  to  show,  also,  how 
thorough  was  the  investigation  made  into  the  character  of  the  country  by 
myself  prior  to  1853.  At  that  time,  and  before  the  commencement  of  the 
government  surveys,  the  facts  were  ample,  as  stated  in  my  Memoir,  for 
pronouncing  upon  the  superiority  of  the  northern  route  as  a  great  trans- 
continental thoroughfare.  Since  then,  I  have  lost  no  opportunity  of  adding 
to  my  knowledge  of  the  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific, 
and  for  the  last  two  years  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Kailroad  Company,  as  Engineer-in-Chief,  directing  the  surveys,  and  in  that 
period  have  seen  a  large  portion  of  the  route,  and  have  received  reliable 
reports  from  assistants  upon  other  portions;  and,  so  far,  my  confidence  in 
its  superiority  has  not  been  impaired,  but,  on  the  contrary,  greatly 
strengthened. 

At  the  risk  of  being  considered  inimical  to  a  rival  project,  which  I  am 
not,  and  to  exhibit  the  superiority  of  the  northern  route  in  the  most  satis- 
factory manner,  I  shall  make  a  brief  comparison  with  the  route  to  San 
Francisco,  now  occupied  by  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railway  lines 
from  Omaha,  and  which  is  now  being  rapidly  constructed  under  the  very 
liberal  patronage  bestowed  upon  it  by  the  government  and  the  public.  A 
comparison  with  this  route  is  the  more  appropriate,  as  it  is  not  probable 
that  any  intermediate  line  between  it  and  the  northern  one  will,  for  many 
years,  be  attempted. 

1.  In  actual  distance,  estimating  from  Chicago  in  each  case,  the  northern 
route  to  the  Pacific  is  between  two  and  three  hundred  miles  the  shortest. 

2.  It  has  much  less  rise  and  fall,  which,  converted  into  equivalent  hori- 
zontal distance,  practically  doubles  the  difterence  in  its  favor  from  the 
amount  above  stated. 

3.  It  connects  with  the  cheap  navigation  of  the  lakes  at  Lake  Superior 
at  a  i)oint  as  near  to  the  Atlantic  sea-board,  by  navigation,  as  is  Chicago, 
and  this  connection  is  nearer  to  the  Pacific  at  Puget  Sound  than  Chicago  is 
to  San  Francisco  b^  over  six  hundred  miles  actual  distance,  making  no 
allowance  for  extra  rise  and  fall  and  heavier  gradients. 

4.  From  Lake  Superior  to  Puget  Sound,  the  northern  route  has  a  mean 
elevation  1,900  to  2,000  feet.  For  the  same  distance  from  Omaha  west,  upon 
the  other  line,  the  mean  elevation  is  over  5,000  feet,  and  for  five  hundred 
miles  of  the  distance  it  exceeds  6,000  feet.  This  diflference  in  elevation  is 
equivalent,  in  its  efiect  upon  climate,  to  a  difterence  of  latitude  of  ten  or 
twelve  degrees,  and,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  the  more  elevated  portion 
of  the  northern  route  is  nearer  to  the  Pacific,  where  it  is  influenced  by  the 
warm  winds  from  that  region,  makes  the  climate  milder  by  five  or  six 
degrees  of  latitude,  probably,  than  upon  the  route  by  Salt  Lake. 

5.  The  more  elevated  portions  of  the  Salt  Lake  route,  as  has  been  fully 
proved,  is  subject  to  deep  snows  in  winter,  rendering  that  route  unreliable 
at  that  season.    During  the  last  winter  a  portion  of  the  Central  Pacific  was 


112 

rendered  useless  from  this  cause,  and  San  Francisco  papers  report  the  snow- 
sheds  to  be  a  failure.  The  northern  route  is  singularly  exempt  from  any- 
such  obstruction,  and  from  causes  now  well  understood  and  explained. 

6.  There  is  no  portion  of  the  northern  route  which  will  require  gradients 
so  high,  combined  with  curvature  so  sharp,  as  on  the  Central  Pacific,  in 
making  the  ascent  of  the  Nevada  Mountains  from  Sacramento,  and  at  some 
other  points.  At  these  points,  it  has  been  estimated  that  it  will  require  six 
to  eight  locomotives  to  do  the  ordinary  duty  of  one  on  a  level  track,  and  to 
secure  ultimately  a  double-track  free  from  all  danger  of  obstruction  and 
injury  from  the  heavy  snow-slides  will  be  attended  with  an  enormous 
expense. 

7.  The  northern  route  is  strictly  a  valley  route  traversing  the  great  val- 
leys of  the  Missouri  and  Columbia,  and  passing  through  a  region  well 
adapted  from  soil  and  climate  for  settlement  for  almost  the  entire  distance. 
The  other  route  is  over  a  mountain  region  studded  with  summits,  snow- 
capped the  entire  year,  sterile  and  naked  of  timber,  and  in  general  unfit 
for  settlement,  and  will  aftbrd  in  consequence  very  much  less  local  busi- 
ness for  a  railway.  For  these  reasons,  also,  it  will  probably  be  a  more 
costly  route  to  operate  and  maintain.  Its  dry  and  sandy  character  during 
the  summer  months  must  add  greatly  to  the  wear  and  tear  of  car  and  en- 
gine machinery. 

8.  Puget  Sound  is  distinguished  for  its  numerous  and  excellent  harbors. 
Its  waters  are  navigable  at  all  seasons  and  free  from  hidden  danger.  Tim- 
ber and  coal  are  both  abundant  on  its  borders,  and  it  is  in  a  most  favora- 
ble position  for  the  Pacific  trade,  being  nearer  to  the  principal  cities  of 
Asia  than  San  Francisco,  by  several  hundred  miles,  and  has  an  extensive 
and  productive  back  country,  watered  by  the  Columbia  and  its  branches, 
upon  the  principal  of  which,  and  upon  the  Colombia  itself,  steamers  are 
now  running. 

9.  The  northern  route  intersects  at  some  half  a  dozen  points  very  impor- 
tant river  navigations  which  extend  for  long  distances  into  the  interior  of 
the  country,  on  either  side,  and  which  will  form  most  important  tributa- 
ries to  the  business  of  the  road  when  constructed.  These  navigable  rivers 
are  the  Mississippi,  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  the  Missouri  and  Yellow 
Stone,  Clark's  and  Lewis'  branches  of  the  Columbia,  and  the  Columbia. 
Upon  the  other  route,  on  the  similar  distance  from  Omaha  to  Sacramento, 
no  navigable  rivers  are  intersected,  and  from  this  cause,  aside  from  the 
great  elevation,  sterility,  and  nakedness  of  the  country,  as  already  stated, 
will  have  comparatively  less  local  business. 

10.  The  northern  route  to  the  Pacific  is  the  best  and  most  convenient 
route  for  two  thirds  of  the  population  of  the  Union,  or  for  all  that  portion 
situated  to  the  north  of  a  line  drawn  from  St.  Louis  to  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  the  portion  which  produces  relatively,  according  to  its  number 
the  most  exchangeable  wealth.  It  is  the  best  route  for  the  large  and  grow- 
ing population  of  Canada,  and  the  best  and  most  convenient  for  the  trans- 
continental travel  and  trade  between  Europe  and  Asia. 


113 

It  is,  in  fine,  a  route  lying  in  a  latitude  where  the  greatest  strength  and 
intelligence  have  hitherto  been  found,  and  where  the  race  has  achieved 
most  and  attained  its  highest  phase  of  civilization. 

In  thus  setting  forth  the  superior  merits  of  the  northern  route,  I  don't 
wish  to  be  understood  as  asserting  or  intimating  even  that  the  Salt  Lake 
route  will  not  fulfil  the  reasonable  expectations  of  its  friends  and  those 
interested  in  it.  It  is  removed  some  four  hundred  to  six  hundred  miles 
from  the  northern  route,  and  should  have  in  consequence  a  business  of  its 
own  that  will  sustain  it.  But  whether  this  be  true  or  not,  it  has  already 
become  the  recipient  of  the  patronage  of  the  government  and  the  public 
to  a  degree  which  will  insure  its  early  completion.  While  the  northern 
route,  having  far  more  merit,  and  vastly  more  important  in  a  national  and 
world-wide  view,  is  languishing  under  the  poor  favor  of  a  land-grant  which 
can  have  no  value  until  the  road  is  built,  and  then  most  valuable,  if  rightly 
used,  by  being  made  a  free  gift  to  actual  settlers  to  bring  in  a  population 
that  will  furnish  business  for  the  road. 

While,  therefore,  the  government  may  not  be  the  loser  in  bestowing  its 
bounty  upon  the  Salt  Lake  route,  as  I  trust  it  will  not  be,  it  is  not  wise  to 
withhold  similar  needful  support  to  a  route  far  more  deserving — one  which 
is  sure  not  to  be  a  burden  upon  the  public  treasury  and  the  country,  and 
equally  sure  to  aid  materially  in  developing  the  resources  of  a  region 
capable  of  contributing  largely  to  the  general  wealth  of  the  country,  and 
relieving  it  from  a  portion  of  the  burden  already  resting  upon  it. 

If  I  have  been  as  successful  in  my  exposition  of  the  merits  of  the  north- 
ern route  to  the  Pacific  as  from  its  character  it  deserves,  your  Convention 
will  see  that  they  have,  in  pursuance  of  the  objects  for  which  they  are 
convened,  a  duty  to  perform  in  urging  the  claims  of  the  northern  route 
upon  the  attention  of  the  public  and  the  government  in  the  strongest  man- 
ner; and  in  doing  this  they  will  not  consider  it  simply  as  a  line,  or  portion 
of  a  line,  spanning  the  continent  in  the  best  place  for  accommodating  the 
world's  commerce,  or  the  commerce  between  the  most  populous  portion  of 
our  own  continent  and  Eastern  Asia;  but  as  a  highway  occupying  the 
very  best  position  for  developing  the  richest  portion  of  the  interior  of  our 
own  continent  lying  to  the  west  and  north-west  of  the  great  lakes  between 
the  latitudes  of  forty-five  and  fifty-five  degrees  north,  a  portion  which 
when  thus  accommodated,  will  swell  our  channels  of  inter-communica- 
tion with  its  surplus  products,  and  pour  into  the  laps  of  our  inland  and. 
maritime  cities  incalculable  wealth. 

EDWIN  F.  JOHNSON,  Civil  Engineer. 


Letter  from  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Troy,  New  York. 

Troy,  N.  Y.,  July  28,  1868. 
To  John  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Gentlemen,— The.  undersigned,  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Board  of 

Trade  of  Troy,  in  response  to  your  circular  and  call  for  an  "  International 

8 


114 

Commercial  Convention"  to  be  held  at  Portland  on  the  fourth  of  August, 
to  appear  a8  delegates  at  said  Convention;  or  if  unable  to  attend  in  person, 
to  present  their  views  in  writing  to  the  Convention,  would  respectfully 
say,  that  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Troy,  which  they  have  the  honor  to  rep- 
resent, as  well  as  the  business  community  of  this  city,  are  in  full  sympa- 
thy with  the  objects  the  Convention  have  in  view,  and  desire  to  co-operate 
in  every  feasible  plan  for  the  enlargement  and  extension  of  railroad  transit 
across  the  continent,  as  well  as  the  facilities  for  trade  and  intercourse  be- 
tween the  great  "West  and  the  Atlantic  sea-ports. 

Although  this  city  is  south  of  the  parallel  over  which  you  propose  to 
stretch  your  line  of  railroad  from  Portland  to  the  West,  still  we  do  not 
fail  to  see  our  own  great  common  benefit  with  the  whole  country  in  the 
success  of  your  enterprise. 

Regretting  our  inability  to  attend  the  Convention,  and  with  the  highest 
anticipations  for  the  result  of  your  deliberations  in  promoting  the  great  ob- 
jects you  have  taken  up,  we  respectfully  subscribe  ourselves 
Your  obedient  servants, 

JAMES  FORSYTH, 
JAMES  R.  PRENTICE, 
E.  THOMPSON  GALE. 


Letter  from  the  City  Council  of  Oswego,  New  York. 

City  of  Oswego,  City  Clerk's  Office,  July  28, 1868. 

Gentlemen,— Y OUT  communication  under  date  of  June  29, 1868,  inviting 
the  mayor  and  common  council  of  the  city  of  Oswego  to  take  part  in  an 
"  International  Commercial  Convention  "  to  be  held  at  Portland,  Maine, 
on  Tuesday,  August  4, 1868,  to  take  into  consideration  the  various  meas- 
ures and  plans  now  before  the  country  to  increase  facilities  for  intercourse 
in  trade  between  the  Atlantic  sea-board  and  the  interior  of  the  continent, 
was  duly  received  and  contents  noted ;  and  I  am  directed  by  said  mayor 
and  common  council  to  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  the  objects  for  which 
the  proposed  convention  is  called,  as  set  forth  in  your  communication,  is 
fully  approved  by  them. 

The  prospect  of  au  early  completion  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific,  together 
with  the  great  probability  that  other  lines  will  soon  follow,  make  it  highly 
important  that  the  best  and  most  direct  routes  connecting  therewith  and 
terminating  in  the  East  at  the  most  favorable  points  of  embarkation  and 
shipment  should  be  sought  out  and  opened.  The  great  increase  of  busi- 
ness which  may  be  anticipated  from  the  opening  of  the  Pacific  Railway, 
together  with  the  rapidly  expanding  productions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
will  fully  employ  all  the  lines  of  communication  and  transit  which  can  be 
brought  into  use,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  comitry  can  in  no  manner 
be  better  promoted  than  devising  ways  by  which  the  thoroughfares  of  busi- 


115 


ness  will  be  opened  which  will  fully  develop  the  wealth  and  vast  resources 
of  the  nation. 

I  am  directed  by  the  mayor  and  common  council  to  assure  you  that  all 
measures  to  complete  connecting  links  in  lines  of  communication  between 
your  city  and  the  West,  and  in  establishing  new  and  more  favorable  ones, 
if  they  can  be  devised,  will  meet  with  their  earliest  co-operation.  To  one 
subject  I  am  directed  to  call  your  attention  as  worthy  the  serious  consid- 
eration of  your  Convention,  a  ship  canal  around  the  Falls  of  Niagara  dur- 
ing the  entire  season  at  lake  navigation,  some  eight  months.  Such  a  work, 
when  constructed,  would  let  the  bulk  of  the  commerce  of  the  lakes  down 
into  the  basin  of  Lake  Ontario,  bringing  the  point  of  transshipment  sev- 
eral hundred  miles  nearer  the  sea-board,  and  thus  greatly  cheapening  the 
cost  of  transit  upon  all  the  products  of  the  AYest,  or  supplies  of  nearly 
every  nature  going  to  the  producers  of  the  West.  It  is  a  measure  demand- 
ed by  the  best  interests  of  both  East  and  West.  A  bill  is  now  pending  in 
Congress  which  makes  provisions  for  this  great  national  work. 

A  full  discussion  and  enlargement  of  the  importance  of  this  work  by 
your  honorable  convention  will  have  its  due  weight  with  the  national  leg- 
islature. 

I  am  also  directed  to  say,  that  it  will  not  be  possible  for  the  mayor  and 
common  council,  in  a  corporate  capacity,  to  meet  with  your  Convention; 
but  they  feel  a  pleasure  in  stating,  that  the  "  Board  of  Trade  of  Oswego" 
will  be  duly  represented  by  committees. 

I  am  directed,  gentlemen,  to  thank  you  for  the  remembrance  as  well  as 
for  the  consideration  and  courtesy  extended  to  citizens  of  Oswego  on  pre- 
vious occasions  of  great  interest. 

Trusting,  gentlemen,  that  your  efforts  will  lead  to  the'  opening  of  the  best 
possible  avenues  of  trade  across  the  American  continent,  by  direction  of 
the  mayor  and  common  council, 

I  remain  yours,  truly, 

ROBERT  S.  KELSEY,  City  ClerTc. 


Letter  from  City  Council  of  Milwaukee. 
City  Clerk's  Office, 

Milwaukee,  Wis.,  July  29, 1868. 
Report  op  Committee  on  Finance. — Your  Committee,  in  behalf  of 
the  Common  Council,  respectfully  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  invitation 
to  attend  the  International  Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  at  Portland, 
Maine,  Aug.  4,  1868,  and  fully  approve  and  commend  the  object,  and 
regret  that  the  subject  had  not  been  presented  to  your  Committee  at  an 
earlier  moment,  to  make  arrangements  to  represent  our  city  in  such  Con- 
vention, which  we  are  unable  to  perfect  at  this  late  moment. 
(Signed)  M.  KEEN  AN,  .    1 

AUG.  GRENLECH,  [  ^ 
JACOB  VELTEN,   ^  ^^^^^"»«^^- 
JOHN  BENTLEY, 


116 


Letter  from  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Chicago. 

Seceetaky's  Office, 

Chicago,  July  30, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

(Sir,— The  call  for  the  International  Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  in 
the  city  of  Portland  on  the  4th  of  August  proximo,  reached  us  at  a  time 
•when  many  of  our  members  are  absent  for  recreation,  and  those  who 
remain  are  so  much  occupied  with  business,  that  it  is  difficult  to  form  a 
committee  to  attend  said  Convention. 

A  resolution  of  the  Board,  however,  directs  me  to  assure  you  of  the 
hearty  sympathy  of  the  Board  in  all  efforts  tending  to  increase  railway 
communication  between  the  sea-board  and  the  interior  of  the  country. 
Your  obedient  servant, 

E.  V.  ROB  BINS,  President. 


Letter  from  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Wilmington^  Delaicare. 

Wilmington,  Del.,  July  23,1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq.,  and  others: 

Gentlemen, — Your  invitation  to  the  International  Commercial  Convention 
received,  and  considered  by  our  Board.  In  the  absence  of  our  secretary,  I 
reply.  While  it  would  give  us  much  pleasure  to  send  a  delegation  to  such 
a  live  and  enterprising  city  as  yours,  we  shall  hardly  be  able  to  arrange  it 
at  this  season,  while  so  many  of  our  members  are  from  home;  if  it  can, 
however,  be  arranged,  I  will  have  you  duly  notified.  Wishing  you  every 
success  in  your  great  enterprise,  and  that  the  deliberations  of  the  Conven- 
tion may  be  harmonious  and  useful, 

I  am  truly  yours, 

EDWARD  BETTS,  President. 


Letter  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Halifax. 

Halifax,  July  24, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq.,  and  others: 

Gentlemen, — I  have  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  circular  announcing 
the  intention  of  holding  a  convention  at  Portland,  on  the  4th  proximo,  for 
the  purpose  of  promoting  facilities  of  intercourse  and  trade  between  the 
Atlantic  sea-board  and  the  interior  of  the  continent,  etc.,  and  inviting  this 
Chamber  to  appoint  representatives  thereto. 

And  I  am  instructed  to  state  in  reply,  that  at  a  meeting  held  this  day, 
the  Chamber  has  requested  their  President,  Mr.  William  Pryor,  and  Sec- 
retary, Mr.  J.  H.  Harvey,  to  act  as  delegates  to  the  Convention. 

It  is  not  yet  decided  whether  these  gentlemen  will  be  able  to  leave  Hali- 
fax, but  I  am  permitted  to  avail  of  this  opportunity  to  convey  to  you  the 
very  great  interest  your  circular  has  excited  in  our  Chamber  of  Commerce 


117 


and  among  business  men  generally,  and  to  assure  you  that  their  earnest 
exertions  will  be  used  to  promote  the  objects  of  your  Convention,  and  that 
their  sincere  sympathies  are  enlisted  in  its  success. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  H.  HARVEY,  Clerk. 


Letter  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York. 

New  Yokk,  July  21,  1868, 
Messrs.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Gentlemen, — Your  communication  of  the  29th  ult.,  inviting  the  participa- 
tion of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  "  International  Commercial  Con- 
vention," to  be  held  in  your  city  on  the  4th  of  August  next,  has  been 
received,  and  I  have  been  directed  by  the  President  to  inform  you  that  in 
consequence  of  the  absence  of  many  of  the  members  from  the  city  during 
the  summer  months,  no  session  of  the  Chamber  can  be  held  for  the  con- 
sideration^of  this  subject  before  September  next. 

Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

GEO.  WILSO:^,  Secretary. 


Letter  from  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Toronto. 

Office  of  the  Boaed  of  Tkade, 

Toronto,  July  25, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Oentlemen, — On  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Toronto,  I  have  the 
honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  circular  29th  June,  giving  details  of 
the  several  schemes  for  facilitating  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  East  by 
transit  across  this  continent;  and  requesting  the  appointment  of  a  delega- 
tion to  a  Convention  to  be  held  at  Portland,  on  4th  August,  for  the  conside- 
ration of  the  various  measures  proposed  for  obtaining  the  above  object. 

The  Board  are  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  results 
which  would  attend  the  realization  of  these  projects,  and  desire  me  to 
express  their  entire  concurrence  therein. 

Circumstances  prevent  the  sending  hence  of  a  delegation  (I  may  observe 
that  your  circular  was  received  but  a  few  days  since,  although  dated  in 
June);  but  you  may  confidently  rely  upon  our  moral  support  and  co-opera- 
tion when  necessary,  in  any  project  for  advancing  the  interests  of  interna- 
tional commerce. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen. 

Yours  most  respectfully, 

CHAS.  EOBERTSON,  Secretary. 


118 

Letter  from  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Ottawa. 

BoAKD  OF  Trade, 

Ottawa,  Canada,  July  29, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

Sir,— The  Board  of  Trade  of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  having  received  an 
invitation  to  attend  the  "  International  Commercial  Convention,"  to  be 
held  in  Portland  on  4th  August,  regret  that,  owing  to  the  short  time 
allowed  by  the  notice  (having  received  it  on  24th  inst.),  they  were  unable 
to  comply  with  the  invitation  by  sending  delegates. 

Wishing  this  Convention  every  success,  and  sympathizing  with  the 
motives  which  have  called  it  together,  they  forward  fifty  copies  of  a  pam- 
phlet for  distribution  amongst  the  members,  in  which  their  views  are 
expressed. 

I  am,  Sir,  respectfully, 

G.  H.  PERRY,  Sec'y  pro  tern. 


Letter  from  Admiral  Dams. 

U.  S.  Flao-Ship  Gxjerriere, 

Bahia,  Brazll,  Aug.  29, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

3fy  Dear  Sir, — Your  in\'itation  of  July  11th  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the 
International  Commercial  Convention  in  Portland,  on  the  4th  inst.,  was 
received  by  the  last  steamer.  My  absence  from  the  United  States,  on 
professional  duty,  will  account  for  my  not  replying  sooner  to  your  kind 
invitation. 

There  are  several  periods  in  the  history  of  the  world  when  international 
intercourse,  especially  that  of  a  commercial  character,  has  exercised  a 
commanding  influence  upon  the  welfare  and  progress  of  mankind. 

These  periods  are  so  linked  with  each  other,  and  the  influences  belonging 
to  them  are  so  uniform,  steady,  and  beneficial;  tliey  have,  moreover,  each 
one  of  them,  been  marked  by  such  signal  benefits,  that  it  would  be  a  diffi- 
cult task  to  contrast  them  in  respect  to  their  results. 

And  yet,  while  my  mind  rapidly  recurs  to  some  of  the  most  conspicuous 
of  these  periods,  and  endeavors  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  their  importance, 
I  feel  persuaded  that  there  never  has  been  an  era  of  international  and 
commercial  intercourse  more  promising  in  the  great  variety,  as  well  as  in 
the  real  value,  of  its  issues  than  the  present. 

If  I  ventured  to  indulge  in  even  a  hasty  reference  to  the  details  of  this 
comprehensive  question,  I  should  be  betrayed  into  writing  an  essay, 
instead  of  an  acknowledgment  of  your  kind  remembrance. 

But  I  must  add  this  much,  that  the  manner  in  which  the  abilities  and 
energies  recently  devoted  in  a  great  war  to  the  duty  of  national  self-pre- 
servation, are  now  turned  into  the  channels  of  commerce.-the  chief  instru- 
ment of  human  advancement,  and  are  employed'in  promoting  international 


119 

peace  and  good-will,  presents  a  most  interesting  spectacle  to  the  friends  of 
humanity. 

If  I  had  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  being  present  at  your  Convention,  I 
should,  perhaps,  have  ventured  to  ask  it  to  take  into  its  favorable  con- 
sideration and  recommendation  the  interoceanic  canal  through  the  Isthmus 
of  Darien.  This  is  one  of  the  grand  projects  of  the  century;  and  it  is  one 
which  will  tend  as  much  as  any  to  create  and  extend  the  Christian  spirit 
of  unity  and  bond  of  peace. 

I  am,  with  high  respect,  very  truly  yours, 

C.  H.  DAVIS,  Eear-Admiral 
Commanding  U.  S.  Naval  Forces  in  the  South  Atlantic. 


Letter  from  Dr.  Lieber. 

New  York,  August  10, 1868. 
Hon,  JOHX  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Gentlemen,— On  my  return  to  this  city,  the  evening  before  last,  I  found 
your  invitation,  of  June  29th,  to  attend  an  International  Commercial  Con- 
vention on  August  4th,  at  Portland.  I  regret  very  much  that  the  invita- 
tion was  sent  to  me  so  late.  Everything  of  an  international  character  has 
a  deep  interest  for  me,  and  I  should  undoubtedly  have  attended  your  meet- 
ing, had  the  invitation  arrived  in  proper  season. 
I  am,  with  great  regard,  gentlemen. 

Your  very  obedient, 

FRANCIS  LIEBER. 


Letter  from  Hon,  David  Wilder. 

State  House,  Boston,  July  28, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

Dear  Sir, — I  have  your  interesting  circular  of  June  29th,  received  yester- 
day, and  should,  without  hesitation,  accept  the  invitation  it  gives  us  to  be 
present  and  discuss  the  important  subject  of  which  it  treats,  if  I  could  see 
my  way  clear  to  do  so. 

I  need  not  say  to  you,  I  believe,  how  much  I  have  always  been  interest- 
ed in  all  legitimate  projects  for  improving  communications  between  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  world,  though  I  niay  add,  that  I  sympathize  with  you 
more  than  most  persons  do,  as  to  the  importance  of  making  provision  for 
the  communications  in  advance,  just  as  we  prepare  our  tools,  or  instru- 
ments for  any  other  work,  before  it  commences,  rather  than  wait  and  then 
have  to  do  it  hastily  and  imperfectly. 

But  the  world  generally  prefers  to  mait  and  let  others  be  at  all  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  preparing  the  way,  while  they  go  on  with  their  own 
private  affairs,  ready  at  any  moment  to  seize  your  work  out  of  your  hands 
as  soon  as  it  has  become  profitable  or  creditable. 


120 

Is  not  that  true,  and  very  provoking  too?  And  still,  you  must  keep  at 
work. 

If  only  a  few  of  our  leading  capitalists  could  but  forget  their  selfish,  per- 
sonal purposes,  and  learn  that  the  general  good  is  greater,  and  better  than 
their  own,  not  only  should  you  have  your  railroads  constructed,  and  your 
dreams  realized;  but  I  would  have  honest,  equitable  resumption  of  spe- 
cie payments,  and  both  national  and  international  banking  and  currency 
before  we  are  many  years  older. 

I  have  faith  that  we  shall  both  live  to  accomplish  the  work  we  are  set  to 
do,  and  then,  perhaps,  be  allowed  to  rest  a  little  from  our  labors. 

I  shall  pray  for  your  success,  and  come  and  meet  with  you  if  I  possibly 

can. 

Truly  yours, 

DAVID  WILDER. 


Letter  from  A.  H.  Royt,  Esq. 

Office  of  the  National-  R.  R.  Transportation  Co., 

Boston,  July  31, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Gentlemen,—!  am  honored  with  your  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Convention,  called  to  meet  in  Portland,  on  the  4th 
proximo,  an«l  I  exceedingly  regret  that  previous  engagements  will  prevent 
my  attendance. 

It  would  be  especially  gratifying  to  me  to  meet  such  a  body  of  men  as 
will  undoubtedly  constitute  that  Convention,— repre«e7ifafiye  men,  actively 
interested  in  the  development  of  the  commerce  of  this  country;  live  men, 
who  see  with  prophetic  eye  the  great  changes  and  national  progress  imme- 
diately before  us,  and,  profiting  by  long  observation  and  experience  are, 
with  their  quick  intelligence,  prepared  and  determined  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  vast  resources,  natural  and  artificial,  now  at  hand,  and  such  as  may 
be  possible  in  the  future,  for  the  development  and  control  of  the  commerce 
of  this  part  of  the  world. 

"We,  here  in  Massachusetts,  have  long  looked  with  admiration  upon  the 
enterprise  and  zeal  that  have  characterized  the  capitalists  of  Portland,  and 
of  Maine  generally,  and  we  regret  (I  speak  as  a  humble  member  of  this 
community)  that  we  here  have  hitherto  failed  to  adopt  and  unitedly  carry 
forward  a  general  scheme  of  railroad  or  commercial  policy,  designed  to 
open  to  us  a  direct  and  cheap  means  of  communication  between  this  sea- 
board and  the  West,  through  the  lakes. 

Through  the  energetic  labors  of  a  few  public-spirited  and  sagacious  men, 
our  last  legislature  was  induced  to  lend  its  sanction  to  measures  which  it 
is  hoped  are  to  lead  to  this  result.  But  I  fear  that  we  shall  be  far  behind 
you  in  this  enterprise. 

That  city,  or  section  of  country,  which  shall  first  carry  forward  to  com- 


121 

pletion  such  a  railroad  and  inland  water  communication  between  the  At- 
lantic coast  and  the  "West,  will  obtain  the  earliest  and  greatest  benefits 
arising  from  the  vast  trafl&c  between  this  country  and  Europe, — and,  when 
the  Pacific  railroads  are  complete,  the  lion's  share  of  the  commerce  to  and 
fro  between  the  extremes  of  the  old  world  across  this  continent. 

I  have  carefully  read  your  circular,  and  have  tested  most  of  its  state- 
ments by  data  at  hand.  I  do  not  see  that  you  have  exaggerated  the  facts, 
or  erred  in  the  conclusions  you  have  drawn  from  them.  Startling  as  they 
may  seem  to  some  men,  they  will  be  found,  I  am  confident,  short  of  the 
truth. 

All  New  England  is,  and  ought  to  be,  interested  in  your  plans;  for,  cer- 
tainly, whatever  shall  benefit  Portland  and  Maine,  must  directly  benefit 
the  rest  of  the  Eastern  States. 

I  am  sure  every  patriotic  and  every  business  man  will  rejoice  in  the  suc- 
cess of  your  projects,  and  will  hope  that  your  Convention  will  open  our 
eyes  to  the  importance  of  a  prompt,  intelligent,  and  zealous  co-operation  in 
efibrts  to  the  same  end. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  H.  HOYT. 


Letter  from  Hon.  J.  A.  Sanborn. 

East  Eeadfield,  July  28, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Gentlemen,—!  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  invi- 
tation to  be  present  at  the  International  Commercial  Convention  to  be 
held  at  Portland,  Maine,  on  Tuesday,  August  4, 1868.  To  be  present  dur- 
ing the  deliberations  of  the  Convention  would  afford  me  pleasure,  but  my 
engagements  are  such  as  to  forbid  it.  The  measures  to  be  acted  on  mainly, 
how  best  *'  to  increase  facilities  of  intercourse  and  trade  between  the  At- 
lantic sea-board  and  the  interior  of  the  continent;  to  adopt  measures  to 
secure  a  line  of  railway  across  the  continent  at  its  widest  part,  and  the  ad- 
justment, on  liberal  terms,  of  the  regulations  of  trade  on  the  continent  of 
North  America,"  etc.,  are  projects  of  such  vital  consequence  to  our  State 
and  country,  I  shall  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Conven- 
tion, believing  as  I  do,  that  if  carried  into  effect,  the  result  will  be  the 
uniting  the  people  of  our  country  and  those  of  our  neighboring  Provinces 
in  closer  bonds  of  sympathy  and  interest  than  at  present  exist,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  more  rapid  development  of  the  material  resources  of  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country  than  otherwise  can  be  effected.  I  trust  the  result  of 
its  action  will  be  to  harmonize  and  unite  all  interests  represented  in  aid  of 
the  great  objects  aimed  at.  No  one  that  desires  to  see  our  country  occu- 
pying the  position  in  the  family  of  nations  that  Providence  has  made  pos- 
sible for  her,  can  fail,  it  appears  to  me,  to  feel  a  deep  interest  in  whatever 


122 


is  calculated  to  accomplish  the  results  it  will  be  the  object  of  the  Conven- 
tion to  secure. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH  A.  SANBOEN. 


Letter  from  Hon.  F.  W.  Bird. 

East  Walpole,  July  27, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poob: 

My  dear  Sir,— I  suppose  I  am  indebted  to  your  kind  personal  recollection 
of  me  for  the  invitation  to  attend  the  Convention,  to  be  held  for  the  purpose 
of  increasing  railroad  communications  between  Portland  and  the  "West; 
not  to  any  expectation  that  a  Boston  man  will  assist  in  such  enterprise. 
Is  not  Massachusetts  "pegging  away"  at  the  Hoosac  Mountain,  having 
already  squandered  millions  in  the  fruitless  job,  and  determined,  if  we  are 
forever  to  follow  the  lobby,  to  squander  other  millions,  and  find  herself  at 
the  end,  even  if  the  "  tunnel"  should  be  completed,  with  no  better  facilities 
for  Western  traffic,  and  with  no  larger  share  of  that  traffic,  than  she  has 
with  her  present  railroad  system!  It  is  very  humiliating,  but  true,—"  true 
'tis  pity,  and  pity  'tis  'tis  true."  "While  Massachusetts  is  thus  postponing 
for  years  all  increase  of  communication  with  the  West,  Maine  is  outstrip- 
ping her  in  the  race,  simply  because  you  propose  the  practical,  she  the 
chimerical. 

But,  whether  you  expect  us  or  not,  I  shall  try  to  visit  you,  though  it  is 
very  doubtful.  Now  I  give  you  my  humble  but  hearty  God-speed  in  your 
work.  I  rejoice  in  any  feasible  enterprise  which  aims  to  develop  the 
resources  of  any  portion  of  the  American- continent.  Go  ahead,  and  if  you 
beat  us,  it  won't  be  the  first  time  nor  the  last  when  the  child  distances  the 
parent;  and  as  a  parent,  I  shall  rejoice  if  my  boys  get  ahead  of  me. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

F.  W.  BIRD. 


Letter  from  Cyrus  W.  Field. 

London,  England,  August  C,  1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

My  dear  Sir,—  I  received  your  letter  of  the  29th  June  on  my  return 
from  Switzerland,  and  regret  that,  owing  to  my  absence  from  America,  it 
was  quite  impossible  for  me  to  attend  your  meeting.  Had  I  been  at  home, 
it  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure  to  attend. 

I  remain,  my  dear  Mr.  Poor,  very  truly  your  friend, 

CYRUS  W.  FIELD. 


123 

Letter  from  Hon.  Josiah  Crosby. 

Dexter,  Aug.  1,  1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others : 

Gentlemen,—!  regret  exceedingly  that  I  shall  be  unable  to  attend  the 
International  Commercial  Convention  at  Portland  on  the  4th  Inst.  I  have 
read  the  printed  call  with  much  attention,  and  heartily  sympathize  with 
the  general  purpose  of  the  Convention.  Whatever  tends  to  shorten  dis- 
tances, tends  to  the  material  and  spiritual  welfare  of  the  human  race.  No 
more  eftective  means  of  civilization,  with  perhaps  the  excej)tion  of  the  art 
of  printing,  were  ever  invented  by  man,  than  steam  and  telegraphic  com- 
munication. 

I  shall  look  for  the  published  proceedings  of  the  Convention  with  great 
interest. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

JOSIAH  CROSBY. 


Letter  from  William  Atkinson.  Esq. 

Emden,  July  27,  1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor: 

Sir,—1  am  in  receipt  of  an  invitation  "  to  take  part "  in  an  International 
Commercial  Convention  to  be  held  in  Portland,  Maine,  Aug.  4, 1868.  The 
objects  of  that  Convention,  as  stated  in  the  call,  are  as  broad  as  the  conti- 
nent, in  keeping  with  the  spirit  and  enterprise  of  the  age,  in  harmony  with 
the  demands  of  commerce,  and  the  necessities  of  a  high  civilization. 

It  is  meet  that  the  sons  of  the  great  Republic  should  come  together  and 
take  counsel  for  the  consummation  of  enterprises  so  vast  in  their  nature, 
and  so  comprehensive  in  its  beneficent  results,  as  the  construction  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railway. 

The  Central  Pacific  Railway,  through  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  its 
projectors,  and  the  wise  and  liberal  aid  of  the  Federal  Government,  has 
become  a  fixed  fact,  and  will  shortly  span  the  continent,— will  magnify  the 
great  Republic  in  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world,  and  aid  in  rendering  per- 
manent and  perpetual  our  government  with  its  free  institutions;  and  will 
make  San  Francisco  the  entry-port  and  gateway  of  the  rich  commerce  of 
the  East,  not  only  for  this  continent,  but,  to  some  extent,  for  Western 
Europe,  as  ancient  Venice  was  before  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  route  to 
India. 

The  Northern  Pacific  Railway  route  has  many  advantages,  as  a  highway 
of  commerce  and  a  pathway  of  nations,  not  only  in  point  of  gradients  and 
ease  of  construction,  but  from  the  fact  that  it  will  lie  nearly  in  the  shortest 
path  from  China  to  the  British  Channel,  reducing  that  route  by  natural 
causes,  and  four  thousand  miles  of  land  conveyance,  proximately,  to  the 
well-known  principles  of  great  circle  sailing,  and  confining  it  to  a  temperate 


124 

It  needs  no  prophet's  eye  to  see,  that  first-class  passengers,  the  mails, 
bills  of  exchange  on  China  or  the  commercial  marts  of  Western  Europe, 
gold  and  silver,  and  the  more  portable  and  valuable  articles  of  merchan- 
dize, V5rill  cross  this  continent  by  rail  on  the  completion  of  the  routes  of 
travel  contemplated  in  your  call,  instead  of  seeking  their  destination  by 
routes  twenty  or  thirty  days  longer  in  point  of  time,  and  through  torrid 
climes  and  dangerous  seas.  Much  of  the  commerce  of  the  East  is  destined 
to  reach  the  Atlantic  coast  by  seeking  its  debarkation  at  Puget  Sound,— 
distance,  grades,  climate,  and  the  Pacific  harbors,  all  point  to  this  result. 

This  Northern  Pacific  route  is  of  such  importance  to  Portland  and  to  the 
State  of  Maine,  and  to  the  Maine  Central  and  European  and  North  Ameri- 
can Railroads,  that  I  trust  you  will  pardon  me  for  making  an  additional 
statement,  namely,  five  hundred  miles  of  its  line  east  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains will  pass  through  one  of  the  best  grain-growing  districts  in  the 
habitable  globe,  and  the  minerals  and  timber  lying  adjacent  to  its  line  will 
aflford  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  wealth  for  generations  to  come.  So  go  on 
and  render  sure  the  construction  of  your  line  from  Portland  to  Rutland, — 
the  line  from  Portland  to  Halifax  is  secure,— and  bend  the  vast  influence 
and  energy  that  I  know  your  Convention  will  contain  towards  devising 
ways  and  means  for  the  construction  of  the  great  Northern  Pacific  Rail- 
way, and  you  will  give  it  an  impetus  that  will  only  stop  with  its  final 
completion. 

Memorialize  Congress  for  the  same  aid  they  have  given  to  the  dentral 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  choose  a  committee  to  request  of  our  next  President, 
in  behalf  of  your  Convention  and  of  this  greatest  enterprise  of  modern  times' 
connecting  the  great  highways  of  nations,  and  cementing  in  closer  brother- 
hood the  two  great  families  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  to  aid  this  great  work 
to  an  extent  commensurate  with  its  national,  political,  and  commercial 
importance,  and  you  will  get  the  remaining  aid  you  deserve  and  need. 
The  regulations  of  trade  between  us  and  the  British  Provinces  should  be 
liberal  and  reciprocal. 

Truly  yours, 

WILLIAM  ATKINSON. 


Letter  from  E.  P.  Weston,  Esq. 

Mount  Blue,  Avon,  July  30, 1868. 
Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  others: 

Gentlemen, — Your  circular  invitation  to  "  take  part  in  the  Intematiooal 
Convention  "  was  duly  received.  No  citizen  of  Maine,  however  private 
his  position  or  unimportant  his  influence,  can  fail  to  be  interested  in  the 
great  object  of  the  proposed  Convention,— the  completion  of  a  line  of  rail- 
way across  the  continent  in  its  widest  part;  a  line  that  will  traverse  nearly 
three  hundred  miles  of  our  own  territory,  and  bring  our  own  State  directly 
into  the  pathway  of  nations. 


125 

Gentlemen  of  eminent  ability,  from  other  States  as  well  as  our  own,  will 
be  at  your  Convention  to  give  this  grand  enterprise  a  new  impulse  toward 
its  accomplishment.  I  will  only  assure  you  of  the  sympathy  and  approval 
of  hundreds  of  citizens,  like  myself  unable  to  attend  the  Convention,  but 
who  will  be  ready  to  second,  by  all  means  within  their  reach,  those  meas- 
ures which  your  wisdom  shall  devise,  toward  securing  so  grand  a  purpose. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

EDW.  P.  WESTON. 


Letter  from  Ira  Gould,  Esq.,  President  of  Montreal  Corn  Exchange. 

Montreal,  July  30, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

My  dear  Sir, — I  had  hoped  to  have  the  pleasure  of  being  with  you  at  the 
Convention,  but  the  infirmities  of  age  and  my  business  engagements  seem 
to  forbid  it.  I  venture,  however,  to  make  a  few  suggestions,  such  as  occur 
to  my  mind,  as  being  suitable  subjects  for  the  consideration  of  the  dele- 
gates present. 

Reciprocity.  First  and  foremost  this  should  have  your  most  earnest  at- 
tention, and  by  reciprocity  I  don't  mean  any  half-way  or  one-sided  measure. 
Assuming  that  the  principle  itself  is  right,  the  nearer  you  come  in  practice 
to  the  true  definition  of  the  term,  the  better  for  both  parties.  I  particular- 
ize as  follows: 

Complete  free  trade  in  bread-stuffs,  no  matter  in  which  country  grown. 
The  same  in  all  other  kinds  of  food  for  man  and  beast.  Also  coal  and  iron 
ore,  and,  perhaps,  i^ig  iron  and  puddle  bars,  these  being  considered  raw  ma- 
terial for  purposes  of  manufacture,  and,  finally,  wool,  hemp,  flax,  and  cotton. 
For  all  manufactures  made  on  either  side  of  the  line,  from  material  grown 
or  produced  in  either  country,  a  small  duty,  say  five  per  cent  ad  valorem. 
The  same  duty  applied  to  furs,  and  all  kinds  of  oils,  lumber,  and  many 
kindred  articles. 

Free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes,  and  no  distinction  in 
the  use  of  our  canals,  the  same  to  apply  to  your  canal,  should  one  be  built 
around  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  In  fact,  remove  all  restrictions  and  distinc- 
tions on  these  waters ;  use  them  as  one  people ;  give  to  every  ship-owner  a 
fair  field  and  no  favor. 

The  Fisheries.  I  do  not  feel  competent  to  go  into  details  on  this  subject, 
but  on  the  general  principles  I  have  assumed,  I  do  not  see  why  a  man  hav- 
ing a  fishing  vessel  with  the  full  right  of  both  countries  to  use  these  waters 
and  land  at  any  port  on  the  same,  might  not  have  the  same  common  right 
to  take  their  fish  and  cure  and  dry  them  ashore,  provided  he  obtained  the 
right  of  the  party  owning  the  shore,  when,  by  the  measures  contemplated, 
his  fish  would  be  free  of  duty. 

I  regard  anything  short  of  what  I  have  so  roughly  sketched  as  not  wor- 
thy the  name  of  reciprocity.    For  instance,  you  have  no  coal  nor  iron  on 


126 

your  eastern  coast.  We  have  a  plenty  of  both  on  onrs;  we  can  give  them, 
especially  coal,  to  the  consumer  in  your  eastern  ports,  at  one-half  the 
expense  for  carriage  it  costs  from  Pennsylvania  or  Ohio. 

Again,  we  have  no  coal  in  the  old  Provinces  of  Canada;  you  have 
them  all  along  our  border-line  of  near  a  thousand  miles  in  length.  Why 
should  either  party  be  debarred  the  nearest  and  cheapest  market? 

We  want  your  cotton,  you  want  our  coarse  wool.  It  is  true,  here  you 
would  seem  to  have  the  advantage  of  us,  as  we  are  so  wanting  in  factories 
to  work  your  cotton.  But  never  mind;  we  have  room  and  water-power  in 
great  abundance,  and  if  we  don't  use  them  hereafter,  no  doubt  vrith  the 
freedom  of  action  here  marked  out,  your  people  will;  at  any  rate  we  (at 
least  I  am)  willing  to  take  the  risk. 

Again,  you  are  the  great  nation ;  we  are  the  new  dominion — not  to  say 
small,  for  that  would  not  be  true.  If  you  wish  to  sell  to  us  your  manufac- 
tured articles  under  a  low  rate  of  duties,  you  must  make  the  advance;  we 
are  not  as  free,  under  our  peculiar  circumstances,  to  make  the  offer  as  you 
are;  but  once  made,  it  doubtless  would  be  duly  considered,  notwithstand- 
ing "  the  old  gent  on  the  other  side  might  make  wry  faces  at  us  for  a  time," 
as  Mr.  Cobden  once  said  to  me,  "  but  they  would  soon  get  over  it." 

I  have  one  subject  more  and  I  have  done.  Twenty-five  years'  experience 
in  the  milling  business  and  grain  tra<le  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  with  a  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  canal  and  railroads  of  New  York,  and  their  mode  of 
doing  business  there,  has  demonstrated  to  my  mind,  that  the  great  high- 
way of  the  lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence  is  the  natural  and  least  expensive 
route  for  carrying  the  products  of  the  West  to  the  Atlantic  and  the  Eastern 
States  and  British  Provinces.  But  I  am  free  to  confess  that  this  route  has 
not,  as  yet,  practically  realized  the  advantages  which  belongs  to  it,  nor 
have  we  realized  our  anticipations  concerning  the  railroads  from  Montreal 
to  the  New  England  States  generally, — nor  has  Montreal  become  the  point 
of  distribution  that  her  natural  position  would  indicate,  and  what  she 
really  should  be. 

So  long  and  so  far  as  this  great  highway  of  waters  leads  in  the  direction 
you  wish  to  carry  your  cargo,  it  is  clearly  the  route  to  be  followed.  I  there- 
fore still  maintain  that  Montreal  is  the  point  of  departure  and  distribution 
for  supplying  the  States  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont  and  most  of 
Massachusetts,  besides  all  the  lower  Provinces,  with  Canadian  and  West- 
ern i)roduce. 

As  the  medium  of  this  supply,  I  hold  that  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad  has 
most  signally  failed ;  and  I  hold  further  that  this  failure  is  attributable 
to  one  general  cause,  and  that  no  management,  however  skillful  or  effec- 
tive, could  avert  this  failure  so  long  as  the  cause  remained. 

This  cause  is  the  wide  gauge  of  the  track  which  has  no  aflBnity  or  con- 
junction with  the  roads  of  New  England.  It  is  a  lifeless  monopoly;  it 
plays  completely  the  part  of  the  dog  in  the  manger.  Instead  of  being  a 
feeder  to  your  roads,  it  winds  its  slow  length  along  to  and  from  Allan's 
steam-ships,  at  Portland,  calling  its  duty  done. 


127 

The  remedy  for  this,  in  my  opinion,  is  simple  if  it  can  he  brought  about, 
namely,  that  instead  of  your  renting  your  road  from  Portland  to  Island 
Pond  to  the  Grand  Trunk,  you  should  rent  or  purchase  of  them  their  trade 
from  Island  Pond  to  the  wharves  and  ware-houses  at  Montreal,  and  change 
the  gauge  to  that  of  your  other  roads. 

Suppose  this  were  done,  which  might  be  accomplished  in  one  season, 
the  Grand  Trunk,  ending  at  Montreal  would,  with  the  rolling  stock  now 
in  use  east  of  Montreal,  make  a  very  complete  equipment  for  her  road 
west,  and  what  would  be  of  great  interest  to  the  bond,  and  perhaps  share- 
holders, it  would  become  a  paying  concern. 

"We  should  then  witness  the  beautiful  spectacle  of  the  cars  and  locomo- 
tives of  all  the  New  England  and  lower  Province  roads  loading  at  the 
wharves  and  ware-houses  at  which  the  Grand  Trunk  and  shipping  from 
all  points  west  were  unloading,  and  without  change  of  cars,  distributing 
their  freight  where  it  is  wanted  in  the  above-named  States  and  Provinces. 

As  for  our  road  to  Quebec  and  northward,  if  our  people  were  silly  enough 
to  continue  the  use  of  the  wide  gauge  (which  I  do  not  believe  they  would 
be),  it  would  require  the  third  rail  only  from  Montreal  to  Eichmond,  some 
seventy-five  miles. 

As  regards  our  great  international  or  political  road,  if  we  are  ever  fools 
enough  to  build  it,  commercially  it  would  be  of  little  account  what  its 
breadth  of  gauge  might  be,  for  as  to  business  purposes  it  has  none. 

Touching  the  improvements  of  our  canals,  I  can  say  that  instead  of 
spending  money  in  enlarging  our  present  ones,  I  would  prefer  making  the 
Ottawa  and  Georgian  Bay  routes  navigable;  and  in  this  I  think  I  shall 
have  the  concurrence  of  your  Western  delegates.  But  we  now  have  the 
facilities  of  doing  ten  times  the  business  offered  to  us.  "Why  talk  of  spend- 
ing more  money  in  canals  until  we  have  fully  used  what  we  have. 

Permit  me  to  refer  to  any  contemplated  extension  of  your  New  England 
roads  having  reference  to  the  western  trade.  Lay  aside,  I  beseech  you,  all 
local  or  jealous  feeling,  and  act  from  one  great  patriotic  idea,  the  good  of 
the  whole  country,  and  this  will  result  in  the  gre'atest  good  to  all.  Don't 
make  a  raile  of  new  road  where  the  roads  already  made  can  do  the  work, 
nor  go  a  mile  further  than  the  nearest  point  to  intersect  this  great  western 
high-way  of  waters. 

Thus,  my  dear  sir,  I  have  in  a  hasty  and  crude  way  stated  what,  in  my 
opinion,  are  some  of  the  objects  that  should  receive  the  consideration  of 
the  Convention,  and  which,  if  I  were  present,  I  should  endeavor  to  enforce. 
Please  make  my  acknowledgment  to  the  Convention,  if  they  should  have 
the  patience  to  listen  to  the  reading  of  this  letter,  and  assure  them  that  I 
shall  be  but  too  happy  in  uniting  with  them  in  the  furtherance  of  any  of 
the  objects  here  presented,  or  kindred  ones  which  may  originate  at  the 
present  meeting. 

Faithfully  yours, 

IKA  GOULD. 


128 


Letter  from  Mr.  Simpson,  of  the  Portland  Dry  Dock  Company. 

New  York,  Sept.  10, 1868. 
John  A.  Poor,  Esq. : 

Sir,— I  intended  to  be  present  at  the  International  Commercial  Conven- 
tion, August  4th,  and  to  respond  in  person  to  your  invitation  to  make  some 
statements  and  explanations  with  reference  to  the  objects  and  prospects  of 
the  Portland  Dry  Dock  and  Ware-house  Company,  but  I  am  prevented 
from  so  doing  by  business  which  called  me  away  from  Portland  at  that 
time. 

The  resolutions  which  were  passed  at  the  Convention,  upon  the  subjects 
of  railroad,  lake,  and  harbor  improvements,  and  trade  with  foreign  coun- 
tries and  the  adjacent  provinces,  I  have  examined  and  approve,  and  con- 
sider them  as  a  great  advance  step  in  the  direction  of  true  progress  in  the 
material  interests  of  our  whole  country.  The  city  of  Portland,  from  her 
geopfraphical  position,  is  one  of  the  most  important  points  in  the  whole 
country,  and  with  reference  to  an  extended  and  through  line  of  railroad 
from  Xova  Scotia  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  assumes  an  importance  which  can- 
not well  be  estimated.  The  European  and  North  American  Railway, 
now  in  process  of  construction,  will  soon  be  completed,  and  the  line  will 
thus  be  complete  from  Halifax  to  Portland,  and  this  line  must,  in  a  few 
years,  from  the  necessities  of  commerce,  be  so  extended  as  to  connect  with 
other  roads  leading  to  the  granaries  of  the  West,  and  thence,  by  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Railroad  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Convinced  of  the  great  natural  advantages  of  Portland,  believing  that 
these  would  insure  her  certain  future  growth,  I  was  led  to  examine  into  her 
capabilities  in  a  direction  to  which  I  have  given  my  especial  attention  for 
many  years  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  On  examination,  I  found  a 
location  and  facilities  for  a  dry  dock,  which  induced  me  to  make  a  pur- 
chase and  commence  the  work  at  once.  The  land  and  flats  which  I  pur- 
chased for  this  purpose,  in  the  summer  of  1867,  is  situated  on  the  southerly 
side  of  Portland  harbor,  and  borders  the  main  channel  for  the  space  of 
3,255  feet,  measuring  from  the  Portland  bridge  easterly,  and  thence  extend- 
ing back  to- upland  in  Cape  Elizabeth,  embracing  an  area  of  about  sixty 
acres.  A  charter  was  granted  by  the  legislature  of  Maine  in  February, 
1868,  and  the  company  has  been  organized,  and  the  work  is  in  full  progress, 
and  we  hope  to  be  able  to  finish  the  dry  dock,  engine  house,  and  piers  by 
the  first  of  April  next. 

The  plan  of  the  company  contemplates  not  only  the  completion  of  the 
dock,  but  piers,  wharves,  ware-houses,  elevators,  machine-shops,  and 
dwelling-houses  for  those  who  may  be  connected  with  the  work. 

This  dock  is  to  be  built  under  the  "  Simpson  Patent,"  and  will  be  similar 
to  those  I  built  for  the  "  Erie  Basin  Dock  Company,"  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

This  dock  is  four  hundred  feet  long,  one  hundred  feet  wide,  and  twenty- 
seven  feet  deep,  with  a  draft  of  water  over  the  gate-sill  of  not  less  than 


129 

twenty-two  feet,  and  will  be  the  largest  dry  dock  on  the  continent,  save 
those  at  Brooklyn,  above  alluded  to. 

The  dock  and  its  pier  border  the  main  channel,  which  has  thirty  feet  of 
water  at  low  tide,  and  therefore  it  has  advantages  over  any  other  dock  in 
the  country,  as  disabled  ships  can  be  taken  in  with  their  entire  cargo  on 
board,  or  the  cargo  can  be  transferred  to  the  ware-houses  adjoining  the 
dock,  and  re-transferred  from  ware-house  to  the  ship,  without  the  expense 
of  trucking. 

Another  point  I  must  be  permitted  to  refer  to  in  connection  with  this 
work  of  the  Portland  Dry  Dock  Company.  I  cannot  believe  the  time  is  far 
distant  when  the  line  of  railroad  will  be  completed  from  Portland  to  the 
West,  and  when  this  is  done,  it  is  certain  that  the  grains  and  products  of 
that  portion  of  our  country  can  be  taken  to  Portland  at  a  less  price  than 
to  any  other  port  on  the  Atlantic,  and  if  this  be  so,  all  such  commodities 
intended  for  shipment  to  Europe,  or  distributed  throughout  New  England, 
must  be  brought  to  Portland.  For  the  same  reason,  it  is  also  equally  cer- 
tain that  all  the  lighter  articles  imported  into  this  country  from  Asia,  by 
the  way  of  California,  and  intended  for  European  markets,  or  even  for 
many  portions  of  this  country,  must  be  brought  over  the  line  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Railroad,  and  thence  by  other  roads  eastward  to  Portland. 

Now,  when  this  time  arrives,  facilities  must  be  found  in  Portland  for  the 
storage,  shipment,  or  distribution  by  railroad,  of  all  such  articles  of  com- 
merce as  may  be  brought  here.  To  meet  all  these  requirements,  in  ray 
judgment,  the  Portland  Dry  Dock  has  advantages  which  are  unequalled 
by  any  other  place. 

The  lands  owned  by  the  Company,  and  which  border  the  harbor  chan- 
nel, are  sufficient  not  only  for  the  dry  dock,  but  for  piers,  wharves,  grain 
elevators,  store-houses,  and  freight  depots,  which  can  be  easily  approached 
by  railroad.  Merchandise  can  therefore  be  transferred  direct  from  ships 
to  cars,  or  from  cars  to  ships,  or  from  cars  and  ships  to  elevators,  and  thence 
re-transferred  to  cars  and  ships  with  little  or  no  expence  of  truckage. 

This  statement  I  have  prepared  hurriedly,  but  I  trust  it  is  sufficiently 
full  to  convey  my  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  company  whose  organ- 
ization I  have  initiated,  and  also  my  belief  in  the  advantages  which  Port- 
land possesses  over  most  other  places  as  the  connecting  port  between  this 
country  and  Europe. 

Y'ours,  truly, 

JAMES  E.  SIMPSON. 


130 


TRADE   OF   PRINCE   EDWARD   ISLAND. 

MEMORANDUM    FUENISHED    BY    HON.    MB.    HEARD. 

The  nature  of  the  trade  between  tte  United  States  and  Prince  Edward 
Island  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  data: 

Imports  and  Exports.  For  ten  years  preceding  the  treaty — from  1844  to 
1853— the  total  value  of  imports  and  exports  amounted  to  §1,220,910,  aver- 
aging $122,090  per  year.  For  the  next  ten  years,  during  the  operation  of 
the  treaty,  the  imports  and  exports  reached  $5,157,391,  averaging  $515,739 
per  year.  During  1865,  the  last  year  of  the  treaty,  the  amount  reached 
$1,108,820,  or  very  nearly  as  much  as  the  whole  value  of  the  ten  years  imme- 
diately preceding  the  treaty.  But  in  1867,  when  the  full  eflfect  of  the  treaty 
was  felt,  the  amount  had  dwindled  down  to  $428,550,  a  reduction  of  nearly 
two-thirds. 

Fisheries.  Before  the  treaty  the  number  of  United  States  vessels  em- 
ployed in  the  mackerel  fishery  of  the  British  Provinces,  was  estimated  at 
250,  employing  2,750  men.  Averaging  the  value  of  the  catch  at  $2,500,  gives 
a  total  value  of  $025,000.  In  18rj5  the  fleet  had  increased  to  000  sail,  em- 
ploying 9,000  men,  with  a  tonnage  of  about  45,000  tons,  valued  at  $6,000,000, 
Averaging  the  value  of  the  catch  at  $8,000,  we  have  the  value  of  mackerel 
caught  by  the  United  States  fishermen  alone  swollen  to  nearly  $5,000,000. 

Fishing  Licenses.  The  amount  received  by  Prince  Edward  Island  for 
fishing  licenses  in  1867,  was  $1,415,  at  a  tonnage  duty  of  $1  per  ton;  but  in 
consequence  of  the  increase  of  the  duty  to  $2  per  ton  for  this  year,  only 
four  or  five  vessels  have  taken  out  license  thus  far,  e^^dently  implying  a 
determination  to  evade  the  duty,  or  run  the  risk  of  being  caught  inside  the 
lines  by  a  British  cruiser. 


MINES  AND  MINERALS  OF  NOVA  SCOTLA. 

ABSTRACT  OF  A  REPORT  BY  P.  S.  HAMILTON,  ESQ. 

The  abstracts,  on  the  following  pages,  of  the  results  of  gold  mining 
operations  from  1863  to  1867,  inclusive,  show  the  progress  that  has  been 
made  and  the  aggregate  products,  so  far  as  official  returns  can  show  them. 


131 


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Unproclaimed  and  other  dis- 
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136 


The  following  figures  showing  the  total  amount  of  coal  raised  and  shipped, 
in  Nova  Scotia,  in  tons  and  hundred  weights,  from  1827  to  1867,  inclusive, 
will  exhibit  the  progress  of  its  trade  in  this  particular: 


Years. 


1827 
1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 
1835. 
18:«) 
1837, 
1838. 
1839. 
1840. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 


Tons.     Cwt 


11,491 

19,429 

20,252 

25,240 

34,424 

46,585 

59,497 

46,677 

51,813 

98,427 

109,347 

97,938 

133,928 

98,267 

136,110 

119,478 

97,200 

})i>.993 

137,908 

134.393 

183,099 


Years. 


1848 

1849 

1850 

1851 

1852 

la^a 

18.54 

1^55 

1856 

1857 

1858 

1859 

1860 

1861 

1862 

1863 

1864  (9  months). 

1865 

1866 

1867 


Tons.     Cwt. 


170,518 
158,955 
1(13,728 
139,976 
171,821 
196,935 
213,250 
216,338 
231,934 
267,808 
289,618 
267,496 
304,129 
334,545 
393,631 
424,425 
406,699 
651,256 
601,302 
542,127 


1 
10 

8 
13 
18 
17 
16 

3 

7 
17 


15 
5 
2 

14 
2 


The  slight  falling  off  during  the  last  two  years  is  to  be  attributed  to  the 
abrogation  of  the  "Reciprocity  Treaty"  between  the  Provinces  and  the 
United  States. 

The  only  other  useful  mineral  known  to  exist  in  quantity  in  Nova  Scotia, 
of  which  mention  need  be  made,  is  iron.  A  work  entitled  "  Nova  Scotia 
considered  as  a  field  for  emigration,"  published  in  1858,  said: 

The  most  western  deposit  of  any  extent  yet  discovered  occurs  at  Clements,  on  the 
south  side  of  Annapolis  basin.  The  outcrop  of  the  vein  may  bo  traced  on  the  surface 
for  the  distance  of  a  mile,  with  an  average  thiclcness  of  nine  feet  six  inches.  The  ore 
consists  of  scaler  of  specular  iron,  firmly  cemented  together  ond  mixed  with  silicious 
and  calcareous  matter,  and  it  has  been  in  part  converted  by  heat  into  magnetic  iron 
ore.  It  yields  from  thirty-three  to  forty  per  cent  of  cast  iron,  the  quality  of  which  is 
said  to  very  superior.  »**»*♦  A  bed  of  Iron  ore  occurs  at  Nictau,  also  in  the 
county  of  Annapolis,  and  is  similar  to  that  found  at  Clements.  There  are  several 
parallel  veins  at  this  place,  varying  from  four  to  ten  feet  in  thickness.  Six  of  these 
have  been  examined  and  accurately  defined,  and  the  ore  contains  65.3  per  cent  of  iron 
of  excellent  quality.    *•***♦*♦♦♦ 

The  next  great  deposit  of  iron  ore  which  we  will  mention  is  found  on  the  southern 
slope  of  the  Cobequid  hills.  This  deposit,  considering  its  extent  and  the  variety  and 
quality  of  its  ores,  may  be  pronounced  the  most  important  in  the  Province.  Tliat  part 
of  it  to  which  attention  has  been  more  particularly  directed  lies  between  the  Debert 
River  and  a  point  some  two  miles  westward  of  the  Great  Village  River,  a  distance,  in 
all,  of  about  ten  miles.     Between  these  points  the  vein  extends  nearly  east  and  west, 


137 

and  at  a  distance  of  from  five  to  eight  miles  from  the  shore  of  Cobequid  bay.  It  con- 
sists of  a  veinstone  of  the  species  of  ore  called  ankerite,  associated  with  spathose  iron, 
surrounding  and  including  a  number  of  other  varieties  of  ore.  ♦  *  The  whole  vein 
is  of  very  irrregular  width.  At  one  spot  on  the  bank  of  the  Great  Village  River  it  is 
120  feet  wide,  whilst  at  another,  not  far  from  the  most  eastern  point  to  which  the  vein 
has  been  traced,  it  attains  a  breadth  of  over  500  feet.  Its  breadth  is  unequal  at  various 
intermediate  points  where  measurements  have  been  made.  The  length  of  this  vein  is 
not  yet  ascertained ;  its  continuation  may  be  seen  near  Five  Islands,  twenty  miles  west- 
ward of  Great  Village  River,  so  that  the  vein  is  known  to  extend  a  distance  of  about 
thirty  miles  in  length.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  upon  continued  examination,  it 
will  be  found  to  extend  along  the  whole  length  of  the  Cobequid  range  of  hills.  *  *  * 
The  iron  made  from  these  ores  is  found  to  be  equal  to  any  in  the  world  in  the  rare  pro- 
perties requisite  for  making  good  steel.    *    *    * 

A  very  extensive  deposit  of  iron  ore,  of  a  description  similar  to  that  of  Nictau,  is 
found  at  East  River,  Pictou,  and  within  ten  miles  distance  of  the  Albion  coal-mines  on 
that  river.  The  vein  at  this  place  is  sixteen  feet  in  thickness.  The  situation  of  this 
deposit,  like  that  of  the  Cobequid  hills,  affords  every  lacility  for  the  profitable  manu- 
facture of  iron. 

Iron  ore,  in  the  forms  of  red  ochre,  red  hematite,  and  browji  hematite,  is  found  on 
the  Shubenacadie  near  its  mouth.  It  has  also  been  found  in  small  quantities  in  several 
other  places,  affording  good  reason  to  believe  that  further  extensive  deposits  of  that 
valuable  mineral  will  be  discojfered  upon  a  more  general  research  into  the  mineral 
wealth  of  Nova  Scotia. 

Recent  explorations  have  fully  verified  tMs  prediction ;  yet  Londonderry, 
on  the  southern  flank  of  the  Cohequids,  is  the  only  place  in  the  Province 
where  an  iron  mine  is  worked.  At  this  place,  known  as  the  "Acadian 
mines,"  blast  furnaces  were  erected  about  seventeen  years  since,  and  the 
manufacture  of  charcoal  iron  has  continued  ever  since. 

By  far  the  largest  proportion  of  the  surface  of  Kova  Scotia,  taken  as  a 
whole,  is  yet  an  unexplored  territory.  From  what  has  already  been  dis- 
covered, it  is  only  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  country  abounds  to  an 
almost  singular  degree  in  mineral  wealth. 


Hon.  Erastus  Brooks,  of  New  York.  Before  this 
Convention  separates,  as  I  suppose  it  will  in  a  few 
moments,  I  desire  to  offer  a  resolution,  which,  I  am 
sure,  will  receive  the  support  of  every  member  not  a 
citizen  of  Portland. 

Resolved,  That  the  sincere  thanks  of  this  Convention  be  tendered  to  the 
citizens  of  Portland  for  the  courtesy  and  kindness  extended  to  its  members. 


138 

The  resolution  was  adopted  with  great  heartiness. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Hamilton  A.  Hill,  of  Boston,  the 
thanks  of  the  Convention  were  tendered  to  the  Mayor 
of  Halifax  for  presiding  at  this  evening  session. 

The  Chairman,  in  responding  to  the  vote  of  thanks, 
said : 

I  wish  merely  to  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  this  compliment,  and  to 
assure  you  that  it  has  given  me  very  great  pleasure  to  preside  over  this 
meeting,— a  duty  which  has  not  been  attended  with  any  great  diflSculty. 
It  has  given  me  infinite  pleasure  to  come  to  the  city  of  Portland,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements.  I  have  enjoyed  the  trip 
very  much,  and  intend  to  extend  it  further.  When  I  think,  that,  two  years 
ago,  this  fine  city  was  almost  destroyed  by  fire,  and  see,  that,  by  the  enter- 
prise of  its  people,  it  has  risen,  Phcenix-like,  from  its  ashes;  that  such 
buildings  as  this  in  which  we  are  assembled,  and  others  that  adorn  these 
streets,  have  arisen,  I  look  upon  it  as  .an  example  to  the  world.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  have  seen  anything  like  it.  A  few  years  ago  Halifax  was  the 
victim  of  a  great  fi^re,  and  some  of  our  finest  squares  were  laid  low  by  that 
element;  but  I  am  happy  to  say  that  handsome  buildings  have  since  been 
erected  in  those  portions  of  the  city  that  were  destroyed.  I  congratulate 
the  citizens  of  Portland  upon  the  enterprise  they  have  exhibited,  and  the 
taste  they  have  shown  in  the  new  buildings  they  have  erected. 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  myself  and  for  the  gentlemen  with  whom  I 
am  associated,  and,  I  think  I  may  add,  for  all  the  gentlemen  from  the  Pro- 
vinces, for  the  courteous  reception  you  have  extended  to  us. 

Mr.  John  A,  Poor  then  said : 

I  am  reminded  by  a  gentleman  at  my  side,  who  served  with  me  upon  the 
committee  that  called  this  Convention,  and  from  whom  it  should  have 
heard  (Hon.  L.  D.  M.  Sweat),  that  we  ought  not  to  allow  it  to  dissolve 
without  some  expression  of  regard  to  the  many  eminent  gentlemen  of 
other  states,  and  more  especially  to  friends  from  the  British  Provinces, 
for  the  distinguished  honor  they  have  conferred  upon  it  by  their  presence 
in  this  Convention.  I  know  I  speak  the  sentiment  of  every  citizen  of 
the  United  States  present,  when  I  say,  that  the  fact  that  so  many  of  the 
public  men  of  British  North  America  have  felt  interest  in  a  convention 
like  this,  to  give  it  not  only  their  attendance,  but  their  hearty  co-opera- 
tion, is  one  of  the  hopeful  signs  of  the  times. 

It  was  with  a  feeling  of  pride  that  I  saw  representative  men  from  so 
many  sections  of  this  broad  land,  the  best  portion  of  the  continent, 
stretching  from  the  Empire  of  Mexico  to  the  Northern  Ocean,  occupied 


139 

by  one  race, — now  that  the  Russian  has  retired  from  North  America, — 
covering  seven  million  square  miles  of  territory,  occupied  by  more  than 
forty  millions  of  people,  speaking  a  common  language,  inheriting  the  same 
history,  language,  literature,  and  traditions, — I  might  almost  say,  the 
■same  religion, — members  of  this  great  family  of  English-speaking  people 
in  America,— coming  together,  as  brethren,  to  take  part  in  a  convention 
designed  to  promote  the  material  welfare  of  all,  regardless  of  political 
relations  or  national  boundaries.  This  Convention  itself  is  a  significant 
tact. 

We  are  accustomed  to  public  gatherings, — to  conventions  for  political 
objects,  for  the  promotion  of  public  ends,  usually  confined  to  some  class  or 
profession;  but  international  commerce  embraces  the  world.  A  convention 
called  in  the  interest  of  international  commerce  is  a  comparative  novelty. 
Eighteen  years  ago,  in  this  city,  we  held  a  convention  not  unlike  the  pres- 
ent, and  its  purpose  was  to  establish  more  intimate  relations  with  our  im- 
mediate neighbors,  to  carry  out  the  European  and  North  American  Railway 
— the  great  International  Railway — not  in  opposition  to  the  Intercolonial 
Railway,  but  as  a  vastly  more  important  work  than  that. 

Both  these  undertakings  are  now  secured.  The  Intercolonial  Railway, 
aided  by  the  Imperial  Government,  will  follow  the  northern  route,  known 
as  Major  Robinson  line,  looking  only  to  imperial  necessity,  regardless 
oi  the  demands  of  commerce, — while  the  European  and  North  American 
Railway  supplies  the  wants  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  and  brings  them 
in  connection  with  the  business  of  the  United  States,  and  makes  these 
Provinces  a  portion  of  that  commercial  union  which  is  hereafter  to  give 
law  to  the  world. 

The  Portland  Convention  of  1850  gave  us  not  only  the  European  and 
North  American  Railway,  but  bore  other  and*  more  ample  fruits  in  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway  of  Canada,  and  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  of  1854. 

This  Convention  will  be  regarded  as  an  initial  point  in  the  commercial 
revolution  about  to  take  place  in  the  business  affairs  of  the  world. 

The  railway  across  the  continent,  in  the  direct  line  from  London  to 
Hong  Kong,  will  work  as  great  a  change  in  the  ideas  and  habits  of  man- 
kind, as  that  produced  by  the  discovery  of  America,  and  the  circumnavi- 
gation of  the  globe. 

The  Portland  Convention  of  1850  was  the  first  friendly  reunion  or  fam- 
ily gathering  after  seventy-four  years  of  separation.  The  present  Conven- 
tion, embracing  still  larger  purposes  and  composed  of  delegates  from  still 
larger  portions  of  the  continent  than  were  then  in  council,  has  greater 
aims,  seeking  to  promote  railways  across  the  continent,  regardless  of  po- 
litical boundaries,  and  such  improvements  of  lakes  and  rivers,  and  such 
regulations  of  trade,  as  shall  make  commerce  FREE  upon  the  continent  of 
North  America, — not  to  erect  barriers  along  the  frontiers,  or  encourage 
hostilities  of  any  sort  on  this  continent,  but  contrary  wise, — those  who  dwell 


140 

under  the  government  of  the  United  States,  now  that  civil  war  is  over, 
and  the  necessities  which  led  to  the  repeal  of  the  reciprocity  treaty  of  1854 
have  ceased,  hold  out  the  hand  of  fellowship,  in  commercial  sympathy  and 
fraternal  feeling  to  those  whose  fortune  it  is  to  live  alongside  us,  under 
the  protection  of  a  foreign  power, — that  great  government  from  which  we 
sprang,  and  to  whose  people  the  world  is  indebted  more  than  to  any  other, 
for  the  great  results  of  human  civilization,  protection  of  life  and  property. 

The  protection  which  Great  Britain  extends  to  the  people  of  her  colo- 
nies, leaving  to  every  citizen  the  enjoyment  of  personal  liberty  and  the 
acquisition  of  property,  makes  them  strong  and  resolute,  and  while  obedient 
to  the  demands  of  law,  free  to  seek  new  avenues  of  commerce  and  trade. 

The  peojjle  of  British  North  America,  sharing  the  same  traditions, 
cherishing  the  same  sentiments,  and  enjoying  that  large  measure  of  lib- 
erty which  has  always  characterized  the  rule  of  the  mother  country,  have 
sent  their  representative  men  here  to  unite  in  this  Convention  in  affiiming 
the  universality  of  the  laws  of  commerce,  and  the  duty  of  promoting,  in 
every  possible  way,  material  development,  and  the  permanent  establish- 
ment, on  the  most  enlarged  basis,  of  the  principle  of  unrestricted  trade 
upon  this  continent.  (Applause.)  Fortunately,  the  doings  of  this  Conven- 
tion have  been  in  harmony  with  that  sentiment,  whatever  differences  of 
opinion  have  arisen,  have  been  harmonized  in  committee,  or  fairly  con- 
sidered in  debate,  and  the  record  of  its  doings  will  go  forth  to  receive  the 
approval  or  disapproval  of  that  larger  tribunal,  the  commercial  public,— 
the  public  sentiment  of  the  world. 

No  one  can  rea<l  the  doings  of  this  Convention  without  being  impressed 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  topics  considered,  and  the  remarkable  combina- 
tion of  favorable  circumstances  that  has  made  it  a  success. 

When  I  saw  upon  this  platform,  as  its  chief  presiding  oflScer,  the  distin- 
guished Governor  of  the  State  of  Iowa,  the  great  central  State  of  the 
American  Union,  midway  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,— at  his  right 
hand  his  worship,  the  Mayor  of  Halifax,  the  chief  commercial  city  of  that 
most  eastern  Province,  Nova  Scotia,  the  outport  of  the  continent,— on  his 
left  hand  the  representative  of  the  city  of  Portland,  on  the  Pacific,  in  the 
person  of  the  able  Senator  of  the  new  and  rising  State  of  Oregon,  upon  the 
farthest  Pacific  shore,  four  thousand  miles  apart, — with  the  long  array  of 
eminent  men  along  the  line  between  them,— all  sharing  a  common 
sentiment,  an  earnest  desire  to  promote  the  welfare  of  all, — I  could  not 
help  feeling  that  the  8i)ectacle  presented,  almost  reached  the  moral 
sublime.  And  when  our  friend,  the  representative  ()f  the  great  North 
West,  residing  in  the  center  of  the  continent  (Hon.  J.  W.  Taylor,  of  St. 
Paul,  Minnesota),  spoke  yesterday  of  the  duties  of  the  governments  and 
the  people  of  this  common  country,  and  of  the  mother  country  to  whom 
we  all  owe  a  common  homage,  no  man  who  had  any  respect  for  the  land 
in  which  he  lived,  and  the  race  to  which  he  belonged,  could  fail  to  feel  a 


141 


noble  pride  in  this  exhibition  of  human  sympathy  and  generous  co-opera- 
tion. 

Rival  races  originally  contended  for  the  dominion  of  this  broad  land 
Across  the  border,  over  which  delegates  have  now  come  in  the  spirit  of  fra- 
ternal feeling,  once  moved  hostile  men  in  arms.  In  later  days,  those  of  one 
race,  under  unwise  counsels,  made  war  upon  each  other,  and  crossed  the 
frontier  in  hostile  array.  The  grass  grows  rank  on  more  than  one  battle- 
field whose  soil  had  been  moistened  with  fraternal  blood.  This  spirit,  we 
trust,  has  passed  away,  and  passed  away  forever,  and  that  the  only  strife 
which  shall  hereafterbe  known  among  those  who  speak  a  common  language, 
and  are  striving  for  a  common  destiny  upon  this  continent,  shall  be,  who 
can  achieve  the  most  for  the  welfare  of  all. 

Sir,  I  will  not  detain  you;  I  was  almost  afraid,  when  I  got  up  to  say  a 
word,  that  I  should  make  a  speech,  but  that  would  not  now  become  me. 
whatever  might  have  been  the  case  at  an  earlier  i3eriod  of  the  Convention. 
Had  the  motion  prevailed  to  adjourn  till  to-morrow,  I  might  have  felt  at 
liberty  to  speak  upon  the  practical  questions  concerning  the  proposed  trans- 
continental rail  way,  the  details  of  its  line,  the  means  for  its  accomplishment, 
and  the  still  more  interesting  questions  of  railway  management,  as  affect- 
ing its  probable  success.  But  I  cheerfully  yield  to  the  desire  of  those  who 
prefer  to  terminate  our  labors  to-night.  I  rose  to  say,  that  I  think  it  is  due 
from  us,  who  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  that  we  should  give  three 
cheers  for  our  friends  and  neighbors  of  British  North  America,  and  bid 
them  God-speed  in  all  their  efforts  for  the  civilization,  the  advancement, 
and  the  highest  welfare  of  the  race.  (Loud  applause,  and  three  rousing 
cheers.) 

The  Chairman.  I  can  only  say,  in  reply  to  that,  that 
I  wish  I  had  a  thousand  voices,  to  return  the  three 
cheers. 

Hon.  John  J).  Nash,  of  Halifax,  said : 

I  feel  that  I  cannot  allow  this  Convention  to  separate  without  returning 
thanks,  in  behalf  of  those  I  represent,  for  the  handsome  manner  in  which 
we  have  been  received.  We  came  here,  we  knew  not  for  what.  We  came  to 
learn.  I  confess  that  I  have  learned  much  by  sitting  here  and  listening  to 
the  broad  and  liberal  views  expressed  by  the  various  speakers,  and  I  shall 
feel  a  pleasure  in  going  back  to  my  native  place  and  makir.g  known,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  character  of  the  views  that  have  been  presented  in  this 
Convention. 

This  is  the  first  time  I  have  had  the  honor  of  listening  to  American 
statesmen ;  more  especially,  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  had  the  honor  of 
listening  to  men  of  such  enlarged  and  expanded  views  as  have  been  given 
to  us  from  day  to  day  since  we  have  been  together. 


142 

I  will  not  attempt  to  make  any  lengthy  remarks;  there  is  not  time,  and 
I  have  not  the  ability.  But  I  felt  that  we  should  not  go  away  without 
thanking,  with  the  greatest  sincerity,  the  people  of  Portland  for  what  they 
have  done  for  us,  and  for  the  handsome  manner  in  which  they  have  treated 
us  while  we  have  been  among  them. 

On  motion  of  Hon.  J.  W.  Taylor,  the  Convention 
then  adjourned. 


APPENDIX. 


Bancroft  Library 


PROSPECTUS. 


PORTLAND  AND  RUTLAND  RAILROAD, 

Incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  Maine,  by  an  Act  approved  March  6,  1868. 


CAPITAL,   $2,000,000.        20,000    SHAKES,    OF    $100   EACH. 


The  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad,  to  run  nearly  on  the  parallel  of 
43°  39',  or  due  west  between  43i  and  44  degrees  of  north  latitude,  will  con- 
nect the  rich  and  flourishing  town  of  Rutland,  Vt,  with  the  unrivalled 
harbor  of  Portland,  Maine,  passing  through  a  rich  and  populous  country, 
by  a  most  favorable  route,  crossing  nearly  at  right  angles  the  series  of 
railroads  running  north  and  south  in  the  direction  to  and  from  Boston  and 
New  York. 

From  Halifax,  the  present  eastern  outport  of  the  continent,  to  Portland, 
a  distance  of  596  miles,  the  lines  are  completed,  or  in  progress.  From  Rut- 
land, a  line  extends  west  to  Whitehall,  from  thence  to  Schenectady  and  all 
the  West,  so  that,  by  completing  the  link  from  Portland  to  Rutland,  a 
transcontinental  line  of  railway  is  secured  across  the  continent  at  its 
widest  part,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  completion  of  the  line  from  Rutland  to  Portland  will  connect  the 
California  Pacific  coast  with  Portland  and  Halifax,  by  the  most  direct 
route,  practicable  or  possible. 

This  line  will  be  to  the  railways  of  this  continent  what  the  Suez  Canal 
will  be  to  the  navigation  of  the  Old  World,  avoiding  circuitous  routes 
around  long-extended  sections  of  the  continent. 

Under  two  charters,  but  in  co-operative  action,  the  citizens  of  Vermont 
are  constructing  their  portion  of  the  line  from  Rutland  to  White  River 
Junction. 

The  Northern  Railroad  of  New  Hampshire  runs  due  east  from  White 
River  Junction ;  and  thirty-one  miles  of  its  line  can  be  used  on  the  most 
direct  line  to  Portland,  which  Company  has  agreed  to  form  impartial  con- 
nections with  the  lines  between  Portland  and  Rutland. 

A  charter  for  a  line  across  Maine  was  approved  March  6, 1868;  that  for 
a  line  across  New  Hampshire  was  approved  July  3, 1868,  authorizing  the 
construction  of  a  railway  from  the  line  of  the  Northern  Railroad  at  Dan- 
bury,  to  the  boundary  of  Maine,  in  the  valley  of  the  Ossipee  River,  so  that 

10 


146 

charters  of  the  most  liberal  character  are  now  provided  for  the  entire  route 
from  Portland  to  Rutland.  Authority  is  given  in  the  Maine  charter  to 
lease,  purchase,  or  connect  with  existing  lines  of  railway,  or  any  hereafter 
built,  in  this,  or  in  either  of  said  States  of  New  Hampshire  or  Vennont,  so 
as  to  form  a  consolidated  line  from  Portland  to  Rutland. 

In  inviting  subscriptions  to  the  stock  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Rail- 
road, the  undersigned  beg  leave  to  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that  over  the 
entire  route  from  Portland  to  Rutland,  the  line  passes  through  a  well- 
populated  country,  many  of  the  towns  having  thriving  manufacturing 
villages,  so  that  business,  already  developed,  awaits  the  advent  of  the  rail- 
way, which  will  enter  upon  a  profitable  business  at  the  outset,  not  being 
compelled,  like  other  lines  of  railway,  to  wait  for  business  till  the  forests 
are  subdued,  and  farms  brought  into  cultivation,  and  that  a  population  of 
60,000  resided  in  Portland  and  in  the  towns  immediately  on  its  route  in 
Maine,  according  to  the  census  of  I860,— since  increased  by  more  than  20 
per  cent,  making  a  population  of  over  00,000  in  Maine,  on  its  immediate 
route.  The  New  Hampshire  towns,  from  the  State  line  to  Danbury,  had  a 
population  of  20,072,  and  a  valuation  of  S5A35,46(),  in  1800.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  Portland,  Westbrook,  and  Gorham,  and  four  New  Hampshire 
towns,  they  are  all  without  railroad  facilities. 

There  was  a  population  of  71,321  persons,  with  a  valuation  of  $21,605,521, 
in  1860,  in  central  New  Hampshire,  directly  interested  in  this  line  from 
White  River  Junction  to  Portland,  and  very  nearly  an  equal  number  lying 
north  of  it  in  Maine,  who  would,  by  this  route,  have  their  most  direct  outlet 
to  the  sea. 

A  major  part  of  the  territory  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  lies  north 
of  the  line  of  the  proposed  railroad  to  Rutland  and  Whitehall;  the  popula- 
tion of  which  will  naturally  seek  Portland  Harbor  as  the  nearest  and  best 
outlet  for  their  trade. 

The  building  of  railroads  from  Boston  into  New  Hampshire  and  Ver- 
mont drew  to  her  their  trade.  The  building  of  the  line  now  proposed  will 
restore  to  Portland  her  lost  advantage,  and  make  her  the  centre  of  trade  of 
a  larger  portion  of  New  England  than  that  now  dependent  upon  any  other 
Atlantic  seaport. 

By  extending  a  line  about  forty-five  miles,  it  will  intersect  with  the  pro- 
posed Great  Falls  and  Conway  road,  already  extended  to  Union  village,  in 
Wakefield, — which  is  to  extend  northward  to  Ossipee  and  Conway.  From 
the  proposed  point  of  intersection  of  the  two  lines  in  Ossipee,  the  distance 
to  Boston,  the  present  market  of  that  country,  is  126  miles,  so  that  an  out- 
let at  Portland  for  its  products  will  be  had  in  eighty  miles  less  of  distance 
than  to  Boston.  On  reaching  Meredith,  the  line  will  connect  with  that  of 
the  Boston,  Concord,  and  Montreal  Railroad,  at  a  point  113  miles  distant 
from  Boston,  giving  to  the  trade  of  that  country  an  outlet  to  Portland,  forty 
miles  shorter  than  the  line  to  Boston. 

By  this  route,  too,  a  more  direct  connection  will  be  made  between  Port- 


147 

land  and  Concord,  the  capital  of  New  Hampshire,  than  by  any  existing  or 
proposed  line,  affording  a  most  agreeable  route  to  Boston,  New  York,  and 
the  West. 

From  Meredith  Village,  the  line  of  the  Boston,  Concord,  and  Montreal 
Railroad  already  extends  northward  fifty-six  miles  to  Wells  River  Junction, 
and  twenty  miles  further  to  Littleton.  This  Company,  it  is  understood, 
have  raised  the  means  for  extending  the  line  further  northward,  aiming  to 
connect  with  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  to  Northumberland,  a  section  of 
which  line,  from  Littleton  to  Whitefield,  is  to  be  put  under  contract  the 
present  year. 

At  Wells  River  Junction,  the  line  connects  with  the  Passumpsic  Railroad 
extending  northward  to  St.  Johnsbury,  and  to  the  boundary  of  Canada, 
aiming  for  a  connection  with  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  at  Lennoxville. 
All  the  country  lying  north  of  the  point  of  intersection  of  our  line  with 
that  of  the  Boston,  Concord,  and  Montreal  Railroad  at  Meredith,  will  be 
brought  forty  or  fifty  miles  nearer  to  Portland  than  to  Boston,  by  the  con- 
struction of  the  proposed  line  from  Portland. 

At  Wells  River  Junction,  the  proposed  line  to  Montpelier  will  extend 
over  a  favorable  route,  thirty-eight  miles  already  chartered,  giving  a  con- 
nection between  Montpelier  and  Portland  in  about  155  miles,  which,  it  is 
understood,  will  be  undertaken  as  soon  as  an  enabling  Act  is  passed, 
authorizing  the  towns  on  its  route  to  subscribe  stock  to  the  same  extent 
as  upon  other  lines  in  Vermont.*  From  Montpelier,  the  line  of  the  Ver- 
mont and  Canada  Railroad  extends  to  Rouse's  Point,  eighty  miles,  or  a  total 
of  235  miles  from  Portland ;  from  Rouse's  Point  to  Ogdensburg  is  118  miles, 
or  353  miles  from  Portland, — the  line  from  Rouse's  Point  to  Montreal  is 
forty-four  miles,— making  a  total  of  279  miles  from  Portland  to  Montreal, 
by  way  of  Wells  River  and  Montpelier. 

On  reaching  Bristol,  N.  H.,  the  line  will  connect  with  the  branch  to 
Franklin,  fifteen  miles,  forming  a  new  connection  by  the  Northern  Rail- 
road of  New  Hampshire  to  Concord. 

The  line  of  the  Northern  Railroad  of  New  Hampshire  is  reached  at 
Danbury,  thirty-one  miles  east  of  White  River  Junction,  which  will  con- 
nect with  lines  running  north  and  south,  and  with  the  Woodstock  Railroad 
west,  now  in  process  of  construction.  From  White  River  Junction  to 
Rouse's  Point  is  144  miles,  by  the  Vermont  and  Canada  Railroad;  so  that 
from  Portland  to  Rouse's  Point,  by  this  route,  is  26G  miles;  to  Montreal, 310 
miles,  and  to  Ogdensburg,  384  miles. 

From  White  River  Junction  a  line  extends  down  the  Connecticut  valley 
to  Bellows'  Falls,  where  it  embranches,  one  running  to  Boston  by  the 
Cheshire  Railroad,  the  other  continuing  down  the  Connecticut  valley  to 
Springfield,  thence  to  New  York  City,  and  by  a  line  to  Albany. 


*  Such  an  enabling  Act  has  since  been  granted  by  the  Legislature  of  Vermont,  October  Session,  1808, 
idnee  the  above  was  written. 


148 

On  reaching  Rutland,  the  natural  terminus  of  the  proposed  line,  it  -will 
aflford  the  shortest  and  most  available  outlet  to  the  sea  for  the  accumulated 
business  already  attracted  to  this  point  by  its  advantageous  position,  and 
the  center  of  a  vast  system  of  railroads  converging  to  it  from  all  directions. 

Rutland  is  the  center  of  a  large  manufacturing  district,  and  the  head- 
quarters of  the  marble  trade  already  grown  into  importance,  which  will 
be  rapidly  developed  into  a  leading  interest  in  Vermont. 

This  tratle  is  especially  interested  in  a  line  to  Portland,  and  proposes  to 
build  a  ship-canal  from  Whitehall  to  Rutland,  thereby  making  Rutland 
the  nearest  port  of  Lake  Champlain  to  tide-water.  And  it  is  not  antici- 
pating too  much  to  expect  that  a  ship-canal  will,  in  a  few  years,  connect 
Lake  Champlain  with  the  St.  Lawrence,  making  Lake  Champlain  the 
inland  basin  for  the  accumulation  and  distribution  of  Western  produce. 

Probably  no  interior  town  of  New  England  has  greater  elements  for 
success  than  Rutland,  already  the  largest  town  in  Vermont. 

A  new  line  of  communication  from  Rutland  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
West,  by  means  of  the  steamer  Oakes  Ames,  and  the  Plattsburg  Railroad, 
has  recently  been  successfully  inaugurated.  Additional  lines  of  railway 
have  been  proposed  to  Lake  Ontario,  the  completion  of  wluch,  or  any  of 
them,  will  largely  enhance  the  importance  of  Rutland  as  a  point  for  the 
reception  and  distribution  of  tra<le;  and  the  more  recent  movement  to 
build  a  line  from  Saratoga  to  Ogdensburg,  by  a  direct  line,  promises  still 
greater  results  to  the  business  of  Rutland. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  road  mainly  as  a  local 
enterprise,  serving  as  a  spinal  coluum,  or  Grand  Trunk  line,  for  the  business 
of  the  country  along  its  route,  or  brought  to  it  on  either  side  by  connecting 
lines  of  railroad;  and  there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  that  this 
local  business  would  be  abuntlantly  remunerative  upon  the  cost  of  con- 
struction, running,  as  it  does,  over  a  favorable  route  that  can  be  cheaply 
built. 

From  Portland  to  Danbury  the  reports  of  the  Engineer  show,  that  no 
heavy  grades  are  encountered,  and  that  the  line  can  be  built  at  a  cost  below 
the  average  of  New  England  roads. 

But  to  the.se  local  advantages  already  spoken  of,  must  be  added  the 
importance  of  it,  as  a  section  of  the  through  line  across  the  continent  con- 
necting Portland  and  San  Francisco. 

The  construction  of  the  Portland  and  Rutland  Railroad  was  recom- 
mended by  the  recent  International  Commercial  Convention  at  Portland, 
as  a  necessary  link  in  the  great  chain  of  communication  around  the  globe, 
destined  to  connect  Australia,  China,  and  Japan  with  London,  saving  from 
twenty  to  thirty  days'  time  over  any  other  practicable  or  possible  route. 

Two  facts  are  necessarily  to  be  established  to  secure  assent  to  the  views 
embodied  in  the  doings  of  the  Portland  Convention.  1st,  The  superiority 
in  speed  of  railway  transit  over  water  transportation;  and,  2d,  That  the 
widest  part  of  the  continent  of  North  America  lies  in  the  direct  line 


149 


between  Hong  Kong  and  London.  These  two  propositions  admitted,  no 
one  can  doubt  that  the  laws  of  commercial  gravitation  will  force  the  con- 
struction of  such  lines  of  railway  as  will  reduce  the  transit  between  the 
Orient  and  the  Occident  to  its  lowest  possible  limit  of  time  and  expense. 

Believing  that  the  line  of  railway  from  Portland  to  Rutland  has  all  the 
advantages  suggested;  that  it  will  become  the  channel  of  a  vast  trade 
between  the  seaboard  and  the  interior;  that  its  line  will  be  a  great  emi- 
grant route  to  the  West,  as  it  occupies  the  most  important  section  of  the 
Transcontinental  Railway,  and  must  command  a  large  through  travel; 
and  that  its  construction  will  add  largely  to  the  trade  and  business  of 
Portland,  as  the  natural  shipping  port  of  the  North-west,  and  to  the 
country  on  its  route, — the  undersigned,  Corporators  in  the  Portland  and 
Rutland  Railroad,  of  Maine,  respectfully  invite  to  it  the  public  support, 
especially  of  those  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  New  England  and  the 
North-west. 


JOHN  A.  POOR, 
JOHN  LYNCH. 
H.  J.  LIBBY, 
WILLIAM  DEERING, 
ALLEN  HAINES, 
JAMES  L.  FARMER, 
L.  De  M.  sweat, 
A.  K.  SHURTLEFF, 
SAMUEL  HANSON, 
ENOCH  KNIGHT, 
H.  J.  SWASEY, 
WM.  W.  WOODBURY, 
CHARLES  F0BE3, 
JOSEPH  HOWARD, 


JOHN  MUSSEY, 

WILLIAM  WILLIS, 

JOHN  NEAL, 

N.  C.  RICE, 

GEORGE  W.  WOODMAN, 

N.  A.  FOSTER, 

FREDERICK  ROBIE, 

JOHN  M.  ADAMS, 

JOHN  JAMESON, 

W.  H.  FESSENDEN, 

TOBIAS  LORD, 

R.  M.  RICHARDSON, 

J.  M.  KIMBALL, 

AUGUSTUS  E.  STEVENS. 


152 

Canal  from  Bay  of  Fundj  to  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 21 

Coal  in  Alaska 21 

Committee  on  Order  of  Business 27 

Chamberlain,  J.  L.,  Governor  of  Maine,  Letter  of 28 

Colfax,  Hon.  Schuyler,  Letter  of 32 

Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of 116 

Crosby,  Hon.  Josiah,  Letter  of 123 

Canal  Policy  of  New  York 44 

China,  her  early  Advancement  in  Art 65 

Commerce,  Value  of  the  Inland  Trade 65 

Commerce  of  the  Lakes,  its  extent 66 

^Commerce,  its  extent 69 

Chinese  Laborers  on  Pacific  Railroad 59 

Currency,  its  value 67 

Climate,  milder  as  you  go  west. 107 

Comparison  of  Northern  and  Central  Routes  to  the  Pacific.  .111, 112 

Coal,  Nova  Scotia,  quantity  mined  since  1827 136 

Cain,  John,  Esq.,  Speech  of 69 

T> 

Derby,  Hon.  E.  H.,  Speech  of 17,  93 

Drake,  Hon.  C.  D.,  Senator,  Letter  of 31 

Dickey,  Hon.  R.  B.,  M.  L.  C,  Amherst,  N.  S.,  Letter  of 35 

Draper,  Hon.  John  W.,  LL.D.,  University  N.  Y.,  Letter  of 37 

Davis,  Admiral  C.  H.,  Letter  of 118 

Darien  Canal 119 

E 

4 

European  &  N.  A.  Railway,  its  International  Character.  .18,35,139 

Edmands,  Hon.  George  F.,  Senator,  Letter  of 31 

Eaton,  Gen.  A.  B.,  Commis.-General  of  Subsistence,  Letter  ol.  .33 


153 

Exportation  of  Bread  Stuflf  from  Lake  Superior 45 

Erie  Canal  enlargement 106 

English-speaking  People,  extent  of  Dominion  in  America 139 

F 

Farmer,  Mr.  J.  L.,  Report  on  Credentials 23 

Farmer,  Mr.  J.  L.,  Report  on  Organization 26 

Forbes,  Hon.  J.  F.,  M.  P.  Liverpool,  N.  S.,  Letter  of 34 

Fields,  Cyrus  W.,  Esq.,  Letter  of 122 

Fisheries,  their  importance 87, 88, 96 

Free  Trade  upon  the  Continent,  the  great  necessity 139 

Gr 

Gould,  Ira,  Esq.,  Letter  of 125 

Green  Mountains,  Line  across 70 

Grand  Trunk  Railway,  proposal  to  end  it  at  Montreal 127 

Gold  Statistics  of  I^Qva  Scotia  from  1863  to  1867 131 

H 

Harris,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.  D.,  Introductory  Prayer 12 

Harlan,  Hon.  James,  Senator,  Letter  of 32 

Harris,  I.  George,  Paymaster,  Letter  of 33 

Halifax  Board  of  Trade;  Letter  of 116 

Hoyt,  A.  H.,  Esq.,  Letter  of 120 

Hoosac  Tunnel 22,122 

I 

Intermediate  Distances  across  the  Continent 8 

Internal  Improvements,  their  true  character 56, 57 

Immigration,  Extent  of,  since  1790 58 

Immigration  from  Germany 68 


152 

Canal  from  Bay  of  Fundy  to  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 21 

Coal  in  Alaska 21 

Committee  on  Order  of  Business 27 

Chamberlain,  J.  L.,  Governor  of  Maine,  Letter  of 28 

Colfax,  Hon.  Schuyler,  Letter  of 32 

Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of 116 

Crosby,  Hon.  Josiah,  Letter  of 123 

Canal  Policy  of  New  York 44 

China,  her  early  Advancement  in  Art 65 

Commerce,  Value  of  the  Inland  Trade 55 

Commerce  of  the  Lakes,  its  extent 66 

^Commerce,  its  extent 59 

Chinese  Laborers  on  Pacific  Eailroad 59 

Currency,  its  value 67 

Climate,  milder  as  you  go  west. 107 

Comparison  of  Northern  and  Central  Routes  to  the  Pacific.  .111, 112 

Coal,  Nova  Scotia,  quantity  mined  since  1827 136 

Cain,  John,  Esq.,  Speech  of 69 

33 

Derby,  Hon.  E.  H.,  Speech  of 17,  93 

Drake,  Hon.  C.  D.,  Senator,  Letter  of 31 

Dickey,  Hon.  R.  B.,  M.  L.  C,  Amherst,  N.  S.,  Letter  of 35 

Draper,  Hon.  John  W.,  LL.D.,  University  N.  Y.,  Letter  of 37 

Davis,  Admiral  C.  H.,  Letter  of 118 

Darien  Canal 119 

E 

European  &  N.  A.  Railway,  its  International  Character.  .18,35,139 

Edmands,  Hon.  George  F.,  Senator,  Letter  of 31 

Eaton,  Gen.  A.  B.,  Commis.-General  of  Subsistence,  Letter  ol.  .33 


153 

Exportation  of  Bread  Stuff  from  Lake  Superior 45 

Erie  Canal  enlargement 106 

English-speaking  People,  extent  of  Dominion  in  America 139 

F 

Farmer,  Mr.  J.  L.,  Report  on  Credentials 23 

Earmer,  Mr.  J.  L.,  Report  on  Organization 26 

Forbes,  Hon.  J.  F.,  M.  P.  Liverpool,  N.  S.,  Letter  of 34 

Fields,  Cyrus  W.,  Esq.,  Letter  of 122 

Fisheries,  their  importance 87, 88, 96 

Free  Trade  upon  the  Continent,  the  great  necessity 139 

a 

Gould,  Ira,  Esq.,  Letter  of , 125 

Green  Mountains,  Line  across 70 

Grand  Trunk  Railway,  proposal  to  end  it  at  Montreal 127 

Gold  Statistics  of  JS'pya  Scotia  from  1863  to  1867 131 

H 

Harris,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.  D.,  Introductory  Prayer 12 

Harlan,  Hon.  James,  Senator,  Letter  of 32 

Harris,  I.  George,  Paymaster,  Letter  of 33 

Halifax  Board  of  Trade,'  Letter  of 116 

Hoyt,  A.  H.,  Esq.,  Letter  of 120 

Hoosac  Tunnel 22, 122 

I 

Intermediate  Distances  across  the  Continent 8 

Internal  Improvements,  their  true  character 56, 57 

Immigration,  Extent  of,  since  1790 58 

Immigration  from  Germany 68 


154 

Immigration  from  Great  Britain 58 

Immigration  into  New  York 58 

Interest  of  British  America  same  as  United  States 77 

Iron  in  Nova  Scotia 136 

Intercolonial  Railway,  Route  of 139 


J 

Jackson,  Hon.  M.  M.,  Consulate  of  the  United  States,  Letter  of.  .38 
Johnson,  E.  F.,  Esq.,  Letter  of 106 

K 

Killam,  Hon.  Thomas,  M.  P.  P.,  Yarmouth,  N.  S.,  Letter  of 34 

Kent,  Hon.  Henry  O.,  Letter  of 40 

L 

Lyman,  Hon.  J.  D.,  Sec.  State  of  New  Hampshire,  Letter  of.  ...37 

Letter  of  Atkinson,  William 123 

Letter  of  Adams,  Hon.  Charles  Francis 105 

Letter  of  Browning,  Hon.  O.  H 30 

Letter  of  Bross,  Hon.  William 40 

Letter  of  Bird,  Hon.  F.  W 122 

Letter  of  Chamberlain,  Hon.  J.  L 28 

Letter  of  Colfax,  Hon.  Schuyler 32 

Letter  of  Chicago  Board  of  Trade * 116 

Letter  of  Crosby,  Hon.  Josiah 123 

Letter  of  Drake,  Hon.  CD 31 

Letter  of  Dickey,  Hon.  R.  B 35 

Letter  of  Draper,  John  W.,  Esq 37 

Letter  of  Davis,  Admiral  C.  H 118 

Letter  of  Edmands,  Hon.  George  F 31 

Letter  of  Eaton,  General  A.  B 33 

Letter  of  Forbes,  Hon.  J.  F 34 


155 

Letter  of  Fields,  Cyrus  W.,  Esq 122 

Letter  of  Gould,  Ira,  Esq 125 

Letter  of  Harlan,  Hon.  James 32 

Letter  of  Harris,  Hon.  J.  G 33 

Letter  of  Halifax  Board  of  Trade 116 

Letter  of  Hoyt,  A.  H.,  Esq 120 

Letter  of  Jackson,  Hon.  M.  M 38 

Letter  of  Johnson,  E.  F.,  Esq 106 

Letter  of  Killara,  Hon.  Thomas 34 

Letter  of  Kent,  Henry  O.,  Esq 40 

Letter  of  Lyman,  J.  D.,  Esq 37 

Letter  of  Lieber,  Dr.  Francis,  LL.D 119 

Letter  of  McCulloch,  Hon.  Hugh 30 

Letter  of  ISTew  York  City  Board  of  Trade 117 

Letter  of  Oswego  City  Council 114 

Letter  of  Ottawa  Board  of  Trade 118 

Letter  of  Page,  Hon.  J.  B 29 

Letter  of  Kyerson,  Hon.  J.  K 36 

Letter  of  Seward,  Hon.  William  H 29 

Letter  of  Schofield,  Hon.  J.  M 30 

Letter  of  Sherman,  Hon.  John 31 

Letter  of  Sanborn,  Hon.  J.  A ; 121 

Letter  of  Simpson,  James  E.,  Esq 128 

Letter  of  Townsend,  Hon.  William  H 35 

Letter  of  Tilley,  Hon.  S.  L 36 

Letter  of  True,  N.  T.,  Esq 40 

Letter  of  Troy  Board  of  Trade 113 

Letter  of  Toronto  Board  of  Trade 117 

Letter  of  Upson,  Hon.  Charles 32 

Letter  of  Underwood,  Hon.  Levi 38 

Letter  of  Walker,  Hon.  George 39 


156 

Letter  of  Wilmington  Board  of  Trade 116 

Letter  of  Wilder,  Hon.  David 119 

Letter  of  Weston,  E.  P.,  Esq 124 

Lieber,  Dr.  Francis,  LL.D.,  Letter  of 119 

Lands,  extent  of  those  belonging  to  United  States 57 

Lands,  Public  Sales  of 67 

Lumber,  a  prime  necessity 97 

M 

Massachusetts,  amount  invested  in  Railroads 18 

Merrill,  His  Excellency  Samuel,  Governor  of  Iowa,  Pres't. .  .26, 27 

McCulloch,  Hon.  Hugh,  Sec.  of  the  Treasury,  Letter  of 30 

Maine  to  be  developed,  by  Railroads 41 

Monopolizers  of  Timber  Lands 92 

Mackerel  Fishery 102 

Mines  and  Minerals,  Nova  Scotia 130 

N 

Neal,  John,  Address  of  Welcome, 12 

New  York  City  Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of. 117 

Nova  Scotia  and  United  States  one  People 34 

Navigation  of  the  St  Lawrence  of  no  Value 104 

Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  First  proposed 107 

Niagara  Ship  Canal 115 

Northern  Pacific  Route,  Importance  of 124 

Neal,  John,  Speech  of 13 

Nash,  Hon.  John  D.,  Speech  of 141 

o 

Oregon,  its  greatness  as  a  State 15 

Oregon,  extent  in  Square  Miles 16 


157 

Organization  of  the  Convention 26 

OflScers  of  the  Convention 26 

Oswego  City  Council,  Letter  of 114 

Ottawa  Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of. 118 

Ocean  Steam  Marine 53,87 


P 

Portland  Harbor,  cheapest  Port  for  exportation  of  Western 

Produce 3 

Passengers  across  the  Atlantic .' 7 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Harris 12 

Puget  Sound,  excellence  of  its  Harbor 15 

Page,  J.  B.,  Governor  of  Vermont,  Letter  of 29 

Progress  of  the  United  States  from  1850  to  1860 89 

Producers  of  Lumber,  few  in  comparison  with  Consumers 93 

Prince  Edward  Island,  the  sympathy  of  its  People  with  U.  S..  .102 

Profile  of  N"orthern  Pacific  Railway 109 

Portland  Dry  Dock,  its  capacity 128 

Prince  Edward  Island,  Trade  of 130 

Product  of  Nova  Scotia  Gold  Mines 131 

Portland,  Maine,  its  enterprise 138 

Portland  Convention,  1850 35, 139 

Prentiss,  Hon.  Henry  E.,  Speech  of 79, 103 

Pringle,  Hon.  Eugene,  Speech  of 88 

Poor,  John  A.,  Speech  of 138 


R 

Report  on  Credentials .22 

Report  on  Organization 26 

Ryerson,  Hon.  John  K.,  M.  P.  P.,  Yarmouth,  JS".  S.,  Letter  of...  .36 


158 

Reciprocity  the  true  Policy  of  Nations 54, 77 

Report  on  International  Commercial  Relations 60 

Resolutions  on  Reciprocal  Trade 64 

Report  on  Railroads  across  the  Continent 64 

Resolutions  on  Railroads  across  the  Continent 65 

Restoration  of  the  Currency,  true  method 72 

Report  of  Committee  on  Lake,  River,  and  Canal  Navigation — 74 

Resolutions  on  Lake,  River,  and  Canal  Navigation 74 

Reduction  of  Taxes 94 

Reciprocity  Treaty,  its  Abrogation  unwise 105 

Rice,  Hon.  Richard  D.,  Speech  of 71 

s 

Seward,  Hon.  Wm.  H.,  Secretary  of  State,  Letter  of 29 

Schofield,  Hon.  J.  M.,  Secretary  of  War,  Letter  of 30 

Sherman,  Hon.  John,  Senator,  Letter  of 31 

Sanborn,  Hon.  J.  D.,  Letter  of 121 

Simpson,  James  E.,  Esq 128 

Speech  of  Blow,  Hon.  Henry  T 71 

Speech  of  Brooks,  Hon.  Erastus 52 

Speech  of  Brown,  Hon.  John  B 70 

Speech  of  Breckin,  Hon.  Frederick 100 

Speech  of  Corbett,  Hon.  H.  W 14 

Speech  of  Cain,  Hon.  John 69 

Speech  of  Derby,  Hon.  E.  H 17, 93 

Speech  of  Merrill,  Hon.  Samuel 27 

Speech  of  Neal,  John,  Esq 13 

Speech  of  Nash,  Hon.  John  D 141 

Speech  of  Prentiss,  Hon.  Henry  E 79, 103 

Speech  of  Pringle,  Hon.  Eugene 88 

Speech  of  Poor,  John  A.,  Esq 138 


159 

Speech  of  Kice,  Hon.  Richard  D 71 

Speech  of  Taylor,  Hon.  J.  W 42 

Speech  of  Tobin,  Hon.  Stephen 76, 138 

Speech  of  Woodman,  Hon.  George  W 11 

Speech  of  Walker,  Hon.  Amasa 66 

St.  Lawrence  and  Champlain  Canal 21, 38 

Spirit  of  Trade 85 

T 

Time  saved  between  London  and  Hong  Kong 6 

True  Policy  of  States .^. 22 

Townsend,  Hon.  W.  H.,  M.  P.  P.,  Yarmouth,  :N.  S.,  Letter  of.  ...35 

Tilley,  Hon.  S.  L.,  Minister  of  Customs,  Canada,  Letter  of 36 

True,  K.  T.,  Esq.,  Editor  of  the  Maine  Farmer,  Letter  pf 40 

Troy  Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of. 113 

Toronto  "Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of 117 

Taylor,  Hon.  J.  W.,  Speech  of 42 

Transcontinental  Railway 6, 33 

Timber  Lands  of  Maine,  Yalue  of 80 

Timber  Lands  of  Michigan,  Value  of 80 

Tariff  on  Lumber 83 

Timber  Lands,  Owners  of,  small  Kumber  of 90 

Tax  on  Lumber,  Effect  of 95 

Taxes  in  England 99 

Tobin,  Hon.  Stephen,  Speech  of 76, 138 

U 

Upson,  Hon.  Charles,  Senator,  Letter  of 32 

Underwood,  Hon.  Levi,  Letter  of 38 


160 


W 

Width  of  the  Continent 4 

"Woodman,  Hon.  George  W.,  Speech  of 11 

Washburn,  General  Peter  T.,  Kemarks  of 17 

Walker,  Hon.  George,  Letter  of 39 

Wilmington  Board  of  Trade,  Letter  of 116 

Wilder,  Hon.  David,  Letter  of 119 

Weapon,  E.  P.,  Esq.,  Letter  of 124 

Walker,  Hon.  Amasa,  Speech  of 66 


^0 


